Hake and green bean bake

When left whole, hake are one of the more impressive components of a fishmonger’s “flash”, winding their way between other parts of the display, their teeth-filled mouths gaping, as is often the case on Paul Day’s Sussex Fish counter. Fearsome to look at, yes, but rewarding to cook and eat, particularly when cut through the bone into thick steaks.

It’s worthwhile using stone-in black olives here, such as the rich and salty Gemlik olives from The Turkish Deli. They have more flavour, and none of the soapiness associated with the pitted black

INGREDIENTS

350g fine green beans, woody ends removed

80g black olives (with stones)

400g cherry tomatoes

1 onion, finely sliced

50g salted anchovies in oil, roughly chopped (oil reserved) 5 tbsp olive oil

2 garlic cloves, finely sliced

4 hake steaks, cut through the bone (about 150g each)

Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon Leaves picked from 8 sprigs of parsley, roughly chopped Sourdough or boiled new potatoes, to serve

METHOD

Preheat the oven to 220C/200C fan/Gas 7.

Bring a saucepan of salted water to the boil and blanch the beans for four or five minutes until tender and just beginning to flop. Drain and refresh under cold running water.

Use the cooking time to de-stone the olives – if you don’t have a gadget, place them on a chopping board, tap with the base of a mug to split the flesh and pull the stone out. It doesn’t take long.

In a mixing bowl, toss together the cooled beans, olives, tomatoes, onion, anchovies and their oil and four additional tablespoons of olive oil. Tip this out on to a large baking sheet with a 2cm-high rim, or a shallow roasting tray. Add a few grinds of pepper and cook for 15 minutes near the top of the oven, then remove the tray from the oven and reduce the oven temperature to 200C/180C fan/Gas 6.

Sprinkle the garlic slices over the beans and tomatoes and gently mix to swap those vegetables at the base of the tray with those at the top. Place the hake steaks on top and return the tray to the oven for 10 minutes, after which the vegetables should be sinking a little, yielding and juicy, and the fish just cooked.

Drizzle the lemon juice and remaining tablespoon of olive oil over the fish and the vegetables and sprinkle the zest and parsley over the top. Serve immediately with some sourdough or boiled new potatoes to mop up the juices.