Currabinny Cooks: How to cook hake and three delicious quick and easy recipes 

Hake is popular for a reason

Poached Hake in a cherry tomato curry. Picture: Bríd O'Donovan

Whenever James is asked what he would like for dinner, almost 90% of the time the answer will be ‘hake with veg’.

It is the freshness, the clean taste and the soft flesh which makes hake such a perfect fish to use in all sorts of dishes. It is also abundant in Irish waters and is subject to strict over-fishing preventions meaning the stock is well maintained and thriving.

Hake fishery likely began around 1,000 AD in Ireland.

For most of the medieval and early modern period, hake was the second most important catch in Irish waters, after herring.

The hake fishing season took place during the summer months, while herring was caught mostly in the autumn and winter.

In the 15th and 16th centuries, fishing vessels from Spain, England and France all visited the Irish shores during these summer months to catch hake.

Since then, not much has changed and the biggest takers of northern hake in Irish waters are still France, Spain and Britain. Hake is also one of the most eaten fishes in Ireland besides salmon, cod and haddock.

It is particularly popular fresh and locally caught.

The most important thing when buying hake is to ensure your hake is from the northern stock of the Atlantic, preferably from our own waters, caught by local fishermen.

Stay away from any other hake species, and also avoid southern stock of the European hake. All these species are almost certainly under threat and are very vulnerable.

We eat hake at least once a week, often more, so we have a good bank of reliable recipes built up in our repertoire.

These are some of our favourites which we have been making recently.

Fish curry with cherry tomatoes

recipe by:Currabinny Cooks

Cherry tomatoes are the perfect addition to this curry

Servings

4

Preparation Time

 5 mins

Cooking Time

 25 mins

Total Time

 30 mins

Course

 Main

Ingredients

• 1 red chilli, deseeded, finely sliced

• 1 thumb of ginger, peeled and cut into thin matchsticks

• 2 fat cloves of garlic, thinly sliced

• 400g cherry tomatoes

• 1 tin of coconut milk

• 4 skinless fillets of Irish hake, cut into chunks

• vegetable oil

• 1 tsp ground coriander

• ½ tsp ground turmeric

• 4 cardamom pods, crushed in a pestle and mortar

• a handful of basil leaves

• sea salt

Method

1. Heat two tablespoons of vegetable oil in a large frying pan or casserole. Add the chilli, ginger and garlic, cooking while stirring often for around 2 minutes so that the garlic has softened and become fragrant.

2. Add the spices and cook everything while stirring for another minute. Add the tomatoes next and cook for around 10-15 minutes until most of them have burst, releasing their juices into the pan. Next, add the coconut milk and season with a good pinch of sea salt.

3. Reduce the heat to medium low and add the hake fillets to the curry.

4. Cover the pan and leave to cook until the fish has just about cooked through — this should take around 7 minutes.

5. Tear or bruise the basil and scatter it over the curry before serving, either on its own or with rice.

Hake with ginger and rice

recipe by:Currabinny Cooks

This is a super simple, humble recipe for a quick dinner or lunch using good quality Irish hake and our favourite leftover ingredient — rice

Servings

4

Preparation Time

 10 mins

Cooking Time

 10 mins

Total Time

 20 mins

Course

 Main

Ingredients

• 400g leftover rice

• Bunch of spring onions, white parts sliced thinly, green ends discarded

• 1 thumb of ginger, peeled and grated

• 2-3 fillets of skinless hake,

• cut into large chunks

• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar

• 50g butter

• 3 tbsp light vegetable oil

• 1 teaspoon sugar

• Sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper

• Small handful of coriander, chopped

Method

1. Place the fish chunks on a board and drizzle two tablespoons of oil over it. Rub the grated ginger all over the chunks and then season all over with sea salt and black pepper.

2. Make sure the chunks are well coated in oil, ginger and seasoning.

3. Leave for a couple of minutes.

4. In a large frying pan over medium high, heat the remaining oil and then add the marinated fish chunks. Cook the fish for a couple of minutes on one side and then cook for a further two minutes until the fish is cooked through. Remove from the pan to a warm plate.

5. Add the butter to the pan, letting it melt before adding the leftover rice. Heat the rice for a minute or two and then add the spring onions.

6. Stir everything around the pan until the rice starts to stick. Stir the sugar and vinegar together until the sugar dissolves and then pour this over the rice.

7. Stir through and then remove from the pan. Serve in bowls with the fish on top, garnished with freshly- chopped coriander.

Hake with harissa, fennel and capers

recipe by:Currabinny Cooks

This is a very speedy dinner that packs a tasty punch with a bed of capers, fennel and harissa

Servings

2

Preparation Time

 5 mins

Cooking Time

 20 mins

Total Time

 25 mins

Course

 Main

Ingredients

• 2 big fillets of Irish hake

• 2 tbsp olive oil

• 1 fennel bulb

• 1 medium onion

• 2 cloves of garlic, minced

• 1 heaped tsp harissa paste

• 1 heaped tbsp capers

• sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper

• 1 lemon

• Small handful of parsley leaves, chopped

Method

1. Trim the fennel, reserving the fronds for garnish, Slice the bulb thinly.

2. Cut the onion into a fine dice. Crush the garlic clove. Season your hake fillets with sea salt and freshly- cracked black pepper.

3. Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a heavy-based frying pan on medium heat. Add a little butter if you wish and then add the fennel and onion.

4. Cook for around 5 minutes until the fennel and onion have softened. Add the juice of ½ lemon to the pan along with the harissa and crushed garlic. Stir into the fennel and onion and leave to cook for another 2 minutes.

5. Remove to a warm serving platter and quickly wipe down the pan. Return to the stovetop and add another tablespoon of oil. Add the hake to the pan and leave to brown and crisp up, around 6 minutes.

6. Turn the fish over and cook on the other side until just cooked in the middle.

7. Place the fillets on top of the fennel, onion and harissa. Scatter the capers over it and garnish with the reserved fennel herb and some chopped parsley.