Flaky white fish doused in a creamy white wine sauce with wild garlic oil. This dish is a true celebration of Spring's bounty, fresh wild garlic leaves foraged from local woodland, nutty wild mushrooms and melt-away Cornish hake fillets.
INGREDIENTS
1 bunch of wild garlic
100ml olive oil
1 shallot or small leek, diced
1 garlic clove, crushed
50g wild or woodland mushrooms
1 stalk of fresh thyme
100ml white wine
50ml double cream
50g unsalted butter, cubed
500g clams
1 lemon, juice
2 hake fillets (approx 150g each)
METHOD
Preheat the oven to 180C and line a baking tray with foil.
Start by making the garlic oil. Place all but a couple of leaves of the wild garlic and oil into a blender and blend until smooth. Pass through a fine sieve or muslin/cheesecloth (or a combination of both). Reserve until later for drizzling and discard the mashed garlic left on the sieve.
Place the shallot/leek in a saucepan over a medium heat and soften without colouring in a little vegetable oil. Add the wild mushrooms and fry for 3-4 minutes until fully cooked. Add the thyme and white wine and reduce by a half. Add the double cream and reduce by a half again. Add the butter, canellini beans and lemon juice to taste. Stir and keep warm (a very light simmer) until needed, adding a little water if the sauce thickens too much.
To cook the hake, place a frying pan over a medium to high heat and add a little vegetable oil. Season the hake with salt and pepper and place skin side down in the pan. Allow to cook for 5 mins without moving. Flip and cook for 1 min. Place in an oven at 180C for 5-8 mins or until cooked.
Whilst the hake is cooking, heat the sauce to a high simmer and add the clams, placing the lid on the pan. After 5 minutes or so all the clams should be open, turning off the heat when done.
Portion the the clams, mushrooms and sauce on each plate, top with the hake fillets, a drizzle of sauce along with the remaining fresh garlic leaves (roughly chopped) and a drizzle of the garlic oil.