Hake With Clams in Salsa Verde
- Total Time
- 1 hour
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 20littleneck or manila clams, the smaller the better
- Bones, head and tail from a 1½ to 2-pound fish, preferably hake, or 1½ cups fish stock
- 4skin-on hake or halibut fillets, 6 to 7 ounces each
- Kosher or fine sea salt
- ½cup extra virgin olive oil
- 2cloves garlic, minced
- 1tablespoon all-purpose flour
- ½cup dry, acidic white wine like txacoli or Sancerre
- 1½tablespoons finely chopped flat-leaf parsley leaves
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Preparation
- Step 1
Place clams in a bowl, cover with cold water and set aside. If using fish trimmings, rinse them with cold water, place in a 3-quart saucepan, add water to cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer 20 minutes. Strain the liquid through a fine sieve and discard the solids. You should have at least 1 cup fish stock, preferably more. Set aside.
- Step 2
Drain clams and scrub them. Rinse fish fillets and pat dry. Season with salt on the skinless side.
- Step 3
Heat oil in a large sauté pan or stovetop casserole. Add garlic and cook on medium-high until garlic barely starts to color. Add flour and cook, stirring, 30 seconds. Add wine, cook 30 seconds and add fish stock. Lower heat and simmer about a minute.
- Step 4
Add fish to the pan, skin side up. Simmer gently about 3 minutes. Turn fillets over, add clams, placing them around the fillets. Cook about 5 minutes, or until clams open. If the liquid appears to be drying up, add some additional fish stock or water. When the clams open, scatter parsley around the pan.
- Step 5
Remove pan from heat and move it in a circular motion a minute or two to swirl the sauce so it begins to emulsify and look smooth. Add more salt if needed. Serve directly from the pan or divide among individual shallow soup bowls.
Private Notes
Comments
This is a Basque recipe not Mexican...
Serve with a simple fresh tomato salsa. To make tomato salsa: Rub inside a glass bowl with a whole peeled garlic clove, (save clove for another use). Wash and dry 2 slightly under ripe tomatoes and finely chop. (No need to skin or deseed). Add to bowl, salt well with sea salt flakes. (About 1/2 teaspoon). Toss with 2 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil and let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes. When ready to serve add 1 teaspoon wine vinegar & 1 Tablespoon fresh torn parsley or basil.
"Salsa Verde" is green sauce.This one is composed of parsley , butter , wine and fish stock.
We love this and make our version of it regularly. Our personalizations include: take a bunch of parsley, throw it in cuisines, and use all of it—turns the sauce green, tastes great, We use less oil just because we usually do. Sometimes I use water or vegetable stock or buy fish stock at fish store. I use a dozen clams per person and it flavors the broth. The simplicity of this dish is great.
Everyone always loves this dish. Here are some notes/tips. - it couldn’t have a more misleading name. This is basically pasta-less Vongole, nothing salsa verde-ish about it. - The better the quality broth the better the dish. The difference can be night and day. - use a lot of clams but deshell about half of them before plating so you have a lot of clams floating in the broth and the dish won’t be overcrowded.
Your notes regarding the broth and clams sound spot on. As far as the name, that is what it is called in Spain. This was unequivocally the most memorable dish we ate during our trip to Basque country. It was listed on the menu as "Merluza en Salsa Verde con Almejas" in Spanish (and "Legatza Txirlekin Saltsa Berdean" in Basque). I made a note of the name in hopes I could track down an authentic recipe for it, and was thrilled to find it in the Basque Country Cookbook.
Its simple and great. a dash of smoked paprika on fish is good, maybe finish with a few toasted almond slivers... also- can use sherry in place of white wine. both good.
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