Blood-orange-baked hake with caramelised chicory and paprika potatoes

Serves 2

A few months ago I travelled to Galicia with chef Nieves Barragan in search of the region’s spectacular seafood. One of my favourite meals was hake, served with boiled potatoes drenched in paprika oil. Here, the meaty, underrated fish is perked up with a marinade and paired with my own paprika potatoes.

For the hake

— 2 blood oranges

— 50ml olive oil

— 2 tsp soy sauce

— 2 tsp good sherry vinegar — 1 garlic clove, crushed

— 1 thyme sprig, leaves picked — pinch of chilli flakes

— 2 hake steaks, about

180g each

For the potatoes

— 200g potatoes, peeled — 1 bay leaf

— 3 tbsp rapeseed oil

— 1 tbsp smoked paprika — 1 red onion, finely sliced

For the chicory

— knob of butter, or as needed — 1 head of chicory, halved

lengthways

— splash of white wine — squeeze of lemon juice — 100ml good-quality chicken

stock

— 1 tbsp capers

— flat-leaf parsley, to serve

Zest one of the oranges into a bowl, halve it and squeeze in the juice. Add the olive oil and the rest of the marinade ingredients (everything but the fish and the remaining orange). Season with salt and pepper, mix, then pour over the hake in a roasting tray, coating it well with your hands. Allow to marinate while you cook the potatoes.

Preheat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas mark 6.

Boil the potatoes in salted water with the bay leaf. When they are just tender (after 5-10 minutes), drain and slice into rounds the thickness of a pound coin. Pour the rapeseed oil into a roasting tray and place in the oven for a few minutes. Once really hot, stir in the paprika, then toss in the potato slices and red onion. Season with salt. Spread everything out in the tray and roast for 35-40 minutes, until crisp at the edges – I tend to open the oven a smidge halfway through to release any steam. Remove and set aside.

Turn down the oven to 195C/175C fan/gas mark 5½. Cut the remaining blood orange in half, lightly squ eeze one half over the fish, then place both halves in the tray with the fish. Cover the tray with foil and roast for 10-12 minutes, or until the fish is opaque and flaking.

Meanwhile, prepare the chicory. Melt a knob of butter in a non-stick frying pan. Add the chicory cut-side down, season with salt and pepper and fry gently, until starting to caramelise. After five minutes, add a tablespoon or so of white wine, the lemon juice and the

stock. Cover and cook for a further 10 minutes, or until softened. I like to add another knob of butter to glaze it right at the end, along with the capers.

Remove the fish from the oven and allow to rest for a few minutes, squeezing the juice from the cooked orange over the chicory. Flash the potatoes back in the oven to warm through. Serve the fish with the potatoes, chicory and some chopped parsley scattered over.