Salsa Bilbaína

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Small heavy frying pan, 18 to 20cm
• •Sharp paring knife
• •Heatproof spoon

Instructions

1. 1

   Slice everything evenly

   Slice the garlic into even rounds, 1 to 2mm thick, so every piece cooks at the same pace. Stem the dried guindilla and cut it into small rings. Measure the vinegar before the pan goes on; once the garlic colours, this sauce waits for nobody.

2. 2

   Infuse the oil

   Put the olive oil, garlic, and guindilla in a cold 18 to 20cm frying pan. Set it over medium-low heat and cook for 3 to 5 minutes, swirling the pan now and then. The bubbles should stay small and gentle. Remove the pan as soon as the garlic is pale gold around the edges, because it will continue cooking in the oil. Brown garlic makes the whole sauce bitter.

   If the garlic races from white to brown, the heat is too high. Begin with fresh oil and garlic. Five cloves cost less than a bitter dinner.
3. 3

   Finish off heat

   Take the pan fully off the heat and wait 20 seconds. Add the vinegar carefully down the inside edge of the pan, keeping your face and hands back because it will spit. Add the salt and parsley, if using, then swirl for 10 seconds. Do not return it to the heat. The vinegar stays clean and lively, and the garlic stops at gold instead of carrying on to brown.

   Use a pan with enough depth to contain the brief splutter when vinegar meets oil.
4. 4

   Pour and serve

   Spoon the salsa bilbaína at once over freshly cooked hake, sea bream, monkfish, cod, squid, or prawns, dividing the garlic and guindilla between the portions. Give each plate some of the sharp vinegar from the bottom as well as the oil. This is a loose dressing, not an emulsion.

   For roasted fish, tilt the serving dish after the first pour and return the pooled sauce and fish juices to the pan. Swirl briefly and pour them back over the fish. Repeating this three times is called tres vuelcos, three turns, and binds the juices lightly without making pil-pil.

Chef Tips

• •Choose a fresh extra virgin olive oil with some fruitiness but little bitterness. There are only four essential flavours here, so a tired or harsh oil has nowhere to hide.
• •Basque guindilla seca is a small dried red chili. One small dried cayenne is the practical substitute and tastes hotter, so use half if the cayenne is longer than 3cm. Avoid powdered chili, which clouds the oil and burns before the garlic is ready.
• •Use firm garlic without a green shoot through the centre. If a shoot is present, split the clove and remove it; old garlic can turn acrid in the oil.
• •White wine vinegar gives the cleanest finish. Cider vinegar is a good northern substitute and tastes rounder. If sherry vinegar is all you have, mix 10ml vinegar with 5ml water because its darker flavour can take over the fish.
• •Parsley appears in many Basque home versions and is absent from others. Add it for freshness if you have it, but don't let a missing bunch keep you from making the sauce.
• •This sauce is best poured straight from the pan. Refrigerate leftovers promptly in a covered container, keep them no longer than 2 days, and never store garlic oil at room temperature. Reheat gently, only until fluid.

Advance Preparation

• •Slice the garlic and guindilla up to 2 hours ahead and keep them covered separately at cool room temperature.
• •Measure the oil, vinegar, and salt before cooking. Once those are ready, the finished sauce takes about 5 minutes and should be made just before serving.
• •The finished sauce loses its clean garlic texture and vinegar lift as it sits, so do not make it early unless necessary.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 32g)