I was so taken with the look of the hake fillet at PE & DD in the Greenmarket today that I didn’t think about what I would do with it when I got home. Only when I had gotten there did I remember that all of the recipes I have used with hake involved a hot oven. While the temperature outside was as remarkably moderate today, I had no interest in spoiling the coolness of the evening by stoking a 400º stove. But hake is very similar to cod, and eventually I remembered a simple and delicious recipe which I’ve used with cod fillet: merluzzo dorato. I believe the hake version would be called nasello dorato in Italy, but, in any event, I can say for certain that it was a wonderful surprise: It was the most delicious hake entrée I’ve ever had.
- hake fillets from PE & DD, dredged in seasoned flour and dipped in a beaten egg from 3-Corner Field Farm, sautéed in butter along with a handful of sage leaves from Keith’s Farm, then sprinkled with lemon juice and the pan juices that remained.
- small seasoned pan-grilled San Marzano tomatoes from Mountain Sweet Berry Farm, finished with a dab of olive oil and a bit of balsamic vinegar
- flat yellow pole beans from Norwich Meadows Farm, blanched, then reheated later in a bit of olive oil, seasoned and finished with chopped lovage from Keith’s Farm
- the wine was one of our favorite Spanish whites, Naia 2013 D.O.C. Rueda, from Verdejo old vines.