A taste of Spain, bake some hake the Rick Stein way!

With the netters like the Ajax landing there's plenty of top quality fish coming ashore this weekend - our local chefs are really keen to promote the consumption of Newlyn hake so here's the perfect accompaniment to a summery evening - a flavour-filled hake dish provided courtesy of Rick Stein from his recently published 'Spain' cook book.

"There is a homely wholesomeness about Galician food, and this is the sort of dish you could imagine also coming from some region of the British Isles, like west Wales, if only we loved hake like the Spanish do. Interestingly, when Debbie and I cooked this for our recipe testing in a blistered and cracked terracotta cazuela and gave it to our deli to sell, it was all gone in about 20 minutes. What I love about this is the thickness and whiteness of a good piece of white fish and the aroma of the garlic and tomato coming from the potato fondue below. Like many of these sorts of dishes, I believe in completely cooking the vegetables first on top of the stove, and then baking the fish on top in the oven. If you don’t do this it can end up a bit watery, but this way its flavour is much more rich and concentrated."

Galician hake - Merluza a la Gallega - Rick Stein's 'Spain' - BBC books.

Galician hake on a braise of potatoes, garlic, tomato and onion.