Merluza a la Gallega

Merluza a la Gallega belongs to Galicia: thick hake steaks laid over cachelos, potatoes boiled in broad pieces, with onion and bay, then covered in red-gold ajada of olive oil, garlic, and sweet pimentón. Unlike Basque merluza en salsa verde, there is no flour-thickened parsley sauce here. Galicia names this one with the potatoes beneath and the garlic oil poured over at the end.

It is the sort of coastal main dish that earns its place at both a weekday table and a family gathering. The hake stays clean and delicate, the potatoes catch every drop of seasoned oil, and nothing hides the quality of the fish. Keep the cooking liquid at a bare tremble. A hard boil knocks the hake apart before its centre is ready.

The moment that decides the dish comes after the fish is cooked. Let the garlic turn pale gold, take the pan off the heat, wait a few seconds, and only then add the pimentón. It blooms in the hot oil without burning. Rush that one movement and sweetness becomes bitterness, which is a poor reward for such good hake.

No hace falta haber pisado España. Good frozen hake, thawed slowly, will make the dish properly wherever you are. If hake cannot be found, use thick cod loin of the same weight; it will be firmer, saltier, and larger-flaked, so taste the cooking liquor before adding all the salt. My Margin beside this recipe says only, "pimentón fuera del fuego," pimentón off the heat. Follow that and the rest is plain cooking.