A slightly technical sauce in the recipe this week but I urge you to give it a go. It’s a French classic using hollandaise sauce as the base… if you can master that then you are halfway there.
Ingredients
• 2 x hake fillets
• 1 x bunch of green asparagus
• 3 x egg yolks
• 200g melted/ clarified butter
• 50ml semi whipped cream
• ½ lemon juice
• Handful of chopped parsley or chives
• Salt
• Oil for cooking
Method
Pre-heat grill
To begin, make the sauce. Have the butter pre-melted/clarified. You will need to bring to the boil a pan of water and reduce it to a simmer. Place a metal mixing bowl over this with the egg yolks in and whisk continuously until they begin to thicken.
Remove the bowl from the heat and slowly whisk in the butter. Once all the butter has been whisked in gently fold in the semi whipped cream, this should be like a ribbon when falling from the whisk. Once his has been incorporated into the egg mix season with a touch of salt, lemon juice and the mixed herbs. Set aside somewhere warm until needed.
The asparagus can be cooked however you wish. I would personally bring a pan of seasoned water to the boil, trim the woody part from the bottom, pop them in for 2 minutes then finish with a small amount of butter.
When it comes to cooking the hake fillets, heat a frying pan with a small amount of oil. Place the hake into the pan and cook on one side until you can see the fish is halfway cooked on the edge of the fish – flip it over on the other side for another couple of minutes.
Remove the fish from the pan and place onto a plate/bowl along with the asparagus. Cover the fish with the sauce from earlier until covered. Place under the grill to glaze the top of the sauce until golden brown. Remove from the grill and serve.
Gary Townsend is the head chef and owner of Elements, Bearsden, Glasgow
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