Lluç amb Salsa d'Ametlles

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Wide heavy sauté pan or shallow casserole, 28 to 30cm
• •Stone or hardwood mortar and pestle, at least 12cm across
• •Slotted spoon
• •Thin fish spatula
• •Instant-read thermometer

Instructions

1. 1

   Prepare the hake

   Check the hake for scales and stray bones, then blot it thoroughly dry. Season all over with 6g of the salt and leave it for 10 minutes. Blot away the moisture drawn to the surface. Spread the flour on a plate, dust each steak lightly on both cut faces, and shake off every loose bit. You want a veil, not a coat.

   Dry fish browns instead of sticking and shedding its flour into the oil. Too much flour gives the finished sauce a chalky heaviness, so shake it well.
2. 2

   Fry the picada base

   Warm 20ml of the olive oil in a wide pan over medium-low heat. Add the almonds and cook for about 2 minutes, turning them until pale gold. Add the bread and whole garlic cloves, then cook for another 1 to 2 minutes. Remove everything with a slotted spoon as soon as the bread is crisp and the garlic lightly colored. Leave the oil in the pan.

   Pull the almonds while they are golden, not brown. They continue cooking for a moment after leaving the oil, and scorched almonds make the whole sauce bitter.
3. 3

   Lightly brown the hake

   Add 25ml more oil and raise the heat to medium-high. When the oil looks loose and glossy, lay in the hake without crowding. Cook the first cut face for 75 to 90 seconds and the second for about 60 seconds, just until lightly golden. Transfer the steaks to a plate. They must still be raw at the center because they finish in the sauce.

4. 4

   Cook the onion sofregit

   Lower the heat and add the remaining 25ml oil, the onion, 2g salt, and the bay leaf. Scrape up the pale browned flour left by the fish. Cook gently for 16 to 20 minutes, stirring often, until the onion is very soft, dark gold, and jammy without crisp edges. This slow sofregit gives the sauce its sweetness. If it catches, loosen it with a spoonful of the measured stock, not more oil.

   A pale onion makes a thin-tasting sauce. Keep the heat low and give it the full time; this is the part you cannot rush without losing something.
5. 5

   Reduce wine and stock

   Pour in the wine, raise the heat to medium, and scrape the bottom of the pan. Boil for 3 to 4 minutes, until only about 30ml remains and the sharp wine smell has softened. Add the fish stock and bring it to a gentle simmer. Cook uncovered for 6 minutes so the onion and stock come together.

6. 6

   Pound the picada

   Put the fried almonds, bread, and garlic in a mortar with 10g parsley and 1g salt. Pound until no large almond pieces remain but stop before it becomes a smooth nut paste. Ladle about 30ml of the hot sauce into the mortar, work it through the picada, then scrape the whole mixture back into the pan. Stir and simmer very gently for 2 minutes. The sauce should lightly coat a spoon while still pouring freely.

   No mortar? Pulse the picada in a small food processor, stopping to scrape it down. Leave a little texture. A jar of almond flour is too fine and can turn this sauce pasty before you have time to correct it.
7. 7

   Finish the hake

   Set the hake back into the pan in one layer and spoon sauce over it. Hold the pan at the barest bubble for 4 to 6 minutes, depending on thickness. Do not stir or turn the steaks; shake the pan gently by its handle instead. The hake is ready when the flesh is opaque beside the central bone, separates into moist flakes under light pressure, and reaches 63°C at its thickest point. Add the remaining 1g salt only if the sauce needs it.

8. 8

   Rest and serve

   Remove the bay leaf and take the pan off the heat. Rest the hake in its sauce for 3 minutes. If the sauce has become too thick, loosen it with 15 to 30ml hot water; if it is thin, lift out the fish and simmer the sauce alone for another minute. Scatter over the remaining 2g chopped parsley and serve at once, with plenty of sauce around each steak.

Chef Tips

• •Buy center-cut hake steaks around the bone if you can. The bone protects the flesh and gives the sauce a little more body. The fish should smell clean and mild, and the pearly flesh should spring back when pressed.
• •Frozen-at-sea hake is a sound choice far from the coast. Thaw it overnight on a rack in the refrigerator, then dry it thoroughly. Water left on the surface stops the fish from coloring and dilutes the sauce.
• •If hake is unavailable, use four 200g fresh cod loins about 3cm thick, bacalao fresco, not salted cod. Cod is firmer and separates into larger flakes, so begin checking it after 5 minutes in the sauce.
• •Use stock made from white-fish frames or a mild unsalted shop-bought fish stock. Stock made from salmon, mackerel, or smoked fish is too forceful here. Water works at a pinch, but the finished sauce will be lighter and less rounded.
• •The correct sauce runs from a spoon in a slow ribbon. If it stands in ridges, add hot water 15ml at a time. If you can see watery liquid separating around the edges, simmer it gently for another minute before returning the fish.
• •A dry Xarel·lo from Penedès or a Garnatxa Blanca from Terra Alta belongs comfortably beside this dish. Use a clean, dry wine in the pan, not sweet wine and not anything sold only for cooking.
• •This is best eaten as soon as it is cooked. Refrigerate leftovers within 2 hours and use them the following day, reheating gently in a covered pan. A hard boil dries the hake and may split the almond sauce.

Advance Preparation

• •Prepare the fish stock up to 3 days ahead and keep it refrigerated, or freeze it for up to 2 months.
• •The onion, wine, and stock base can be cooked through step 5 up to 24 hours ahead. Cool it within 2 hours, cover, and refrigerate. Return it to a gentle simmer before adding the freshly pounded picada and hake.
• •Portion the hake and remove any stray bones the day before, then keep it covered and very cold. Do not salt it ahead; season it only 10 minutes before flouring.
• •Toast the almonds up to 2 days ahead and store them airtight. Fry the bread and garlic, then pound them with the parsley shortly before the picada goes into the pan.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 300g)