Colm O'Gorman's baked hake with a chorizo, parmesan and lemon crumb

Fish is a great ingredient, rich in protein, low in fat and quick and easy to prepare

As I look back, one of the mysteries of my childhood is that we rarely ate fish. Even though I grew up in Wexford, a coastal county with a then vibrant fishing industry, we never really ate much seafood. That was all the more remarkable given that my mother was a real champion of fresh food and a very innovative and creative cook. She went vegetarian in the late seventies, so we ate lots of vegetarian food, which I loved, but fish did not feature much at all. I do not recall it being on the menu much when we ate out either, so I can only imagine that most of the fish that was caught by the Wexford fleet back then went for export.

Times have changed thankfully, and seafood is now very much part of the Irish diet. Sustainability is an ever-increasing concern of course, with species such as cod under huge pressure due to decades of overfishing. This has led to it being swapped for other varieties in fish and chip shops, where other white fish such as pollock or coley are often mislabelled and sold as cod. Both pollock and coley are perfectly good substitutes for cod of course, so perhaps we should just get over ourselves and eat more of them, not least because they are more sustainable than cod.

Hake is another great white fish option. Hake is in fact a member of the cod family, and is quite similar to cod, but with a milder flavour, and a softer texture than cod. Wild caught European hake is a good choice if you are looking for a sustainable fish option.

Fish is a great ingredient, rich in protein, low in fat and quick and easy to prepare. It can be pan-fried or grilled in minutes, and with the addition of a little butter to the pan and then seasoned simply with fresh lemon, flaky sea salt and some ground black pepper, you can have a delicious meal in just minutes.

This week I have a recipe that requires just a little more effort than this, but not much. It can be prepared and cooked in about twenty minutes in total, and if you serve it with a big bowl of fresh salad, you will have dinner ready in no time.

If you want to make this a more substantial dinner, serve it with the salad and add some roasted butternut squash on the side. Butternut squash is a fabulous vegetable, and roasted squash works beautifully with the chorizo and parmesan in the crumb I use in this recipe, without overpowering the delicate flavour of fresh hake. If you want to try it simply peel and deseed a whole butternut squash and then cut it into 2-3cm chunks. Toss t in a little olive oil, sea salt and black pepper and roast it at 180 Celsius in an air fryer or oven for about twenty minutes until it is soft and perfectly cooked.

Baked hake with a chorizo, parmesan and lemon crumb

recipe by:Colm O’Gorman

This can be prepared and cooked in about 20 minutes, so you will have dinner ready in no time.

Servings

4

Preparation Time

 10 mins

Cooking Time

 10 mins

Total Time

 20 mins

Course

 Main

Ingredients

• 50g spicy chorizo

• 50g breadcrumbs

• 40g parmesan cheese

• Zest of a small lemon

• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

• A good grind of black pepper

• 4 fresh fillets of hake

Method

1. Heat your oven to 180 Celsius. Remove the skin from the chorizo and chop it into small pieces, the smaller the better. Heat a non-stick frying pan over a high heat and add the chopped chorizo. Reduce the heat to medium and cook the chorizo for about three to four minutes. Remove it from the heat once it starts to crisp up and pop it onto a chopping board to cool.

2. When the chorizo has cooled down, use a sharp knife to chop it up until it is quite fine. I have seen recipes that suggest you do this in a food processor, but I do not like this method as you can end up with a chorizo powder and I prefer the texture of small pieces of crispy chorizo for this dosh.

3. Grate the parmesan cheese and add it to a bowl, along with the breadcrumbs, the chopped chorizo, lemon zest and a good grind of pepper. You do not need to add salt to this crumb as the parmesan cheese is itself quite salty, but lots of pepper is a must. Add two tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and combine thoroughly.

4. Pop the hake fillets only a lightly oiled baking sheet or pan. Brush the top of each fillet with a little extra virgin olive oil and then pile on the crumb, sharing it evenly across the four fillets. Press the crumb down onto the fillets lightly, making sure you have fully covered the surface of the fish. If you have time, pop the fillets into the fridge for twenty to thirty minutes so that the crumb firms up a little. If you are under pressure, you can skip this step and just pop them in the oven to bake right away.

5. Bake the fish for ten minutes, allowing an extra few minutes if your hake filets are quite thick. If necessary, you can flash the fillets under a hot grill at the end to ensure that the crumb is golden and super crisp.

6. Serve immediately with fresh lemon wedges on the side and a simple aioli made by combining 60ml of mayonnaise with half a grated clove of garlic and a squeeze of lemon juice.