Hake with mussels, saffron and purple sprouting broccoli

Prep time: 15 minutes Cook time: 40 minutes

Serves 2

Hake is especially good in this dish – it just works so well with saffron – but you can use other white fish too. You can actually make the mussel sauce ahead of time – it’s best on the day you cook it, though – so that all you have to do at the last minute is heat the sauce and serve it with the cooked fish. Green beans and, once it’s in season, asparagus are also good instead of purple sprouting broccoli here.

INGREDIENTS

– 500g mussels, cleaned

and beards removed – 200ml dry white wine – 50g cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes, plus 10g melted butter for brushing

– 2 shallots, finely chopped

– pinch of saffron

– 125ml double cream – lemon juice, for seasoning –2x200gfilletsof hake

– 100g purple sprouting broccoli – 1 tbsp finely chopped chives, chervil or parsley

METHOD Preheat the oven to 200C/190C fan/gas mark 6.

Discard any mussels that don’t close when they are tapped on the side of the sink.

Bring the wine to a boil in a large saucepan. Add the mussels and cover. Cook for 3 minutes – shaking a little – until the mussels have steamed open. Strain the cooking liquor and pour it through a sieve lined with muslin or a new J-cloth. Take the mussels from their shells and throw away any that haven’t opened.

Heat a frying pan and add half of the cold butter. Cook the shallots until soft but not coloured.

Add the liquor from the mussels (taste it first – they can be very salty). Bring to the boil, add the saffron and boil until the liquid is reduced by half, unless the liquor has been very salty – if that’s the case, don’t reduce it. Pour in the cream, bring to the boil and reduce by half again. Add the mussels plus any juices that have come out of them. Taste the sauce and adjust the seasoning with salt and lemon juice.

Brush a piece of greaseproof paper with melted butter, put the fish fillets on this, brush on the rest of the melted butter and transfer to a baking sheet. Season with salt and bake for 8-9 minutes. Meanwhile, steam the purple sprouting broccoli until tender. Quickly heat the sauce and whisk in the remaining cold butter a little at a time.

Divide the broccoli between your plates – it’s a good idea to dab it a bit with kitchen paper or a clean tea towel as some of the moisture will leach out on to your plates and dilute the sauce. Put the fillets of fish on top or alongside the broccoli, spoon on the sauce and sprinkle over the chopped herbs. Serve immediately.