Hake with garlic wafers and parsley stalks

Inspired by the traditional Basque dish Merluza en salsa verde.

Serves 4
hake fillets 4 x 150g
olive oil 6 tbsp
garlic 3 cloves, finely chopped
parsley 3 tbsp, chopped
small clams 50g
nutmeg to dust

For the ham powder
serrano ham 30g, thinly sliced, torn into 25cm pieces

For the garlic wafers
garlic 8 cloves
salt and nutmeg to season

For the parsley stalks
parsley stalks a few
virgin olive oil 100ml

Preheat the oven to 95C. Arrange the ham slices in a single layer on a large baking sheet and bake until dried and crisp, about 1 hour. Let the ham cool completely. In a mini food processor or spice grinder, grind the ham to a fine powder.

For the garlic wafers, peel the garlic cloves and cook in a pan with a little boiling water until they are soft, around 25 minutes. Drain and let them cool for a couple of minutes then puree with a fork till they look like a paste. Season with salt and nutmeg.

On a sheet of baking parchment, spread the garlic paste very thinly and place in the oven at 55C. Bake until crisp – this should take around an hour. Remove from the oven and peel wafers off the parchment very carefully, cut them into strips and put to one side .

Chop the parsley stalks into 2.5cm pieces. Bring a saucepan of salted water to a boil. Fill a small bowl with ice water. Blanch the parsley stalks in the boiling water until they turn bright green, about 30 seconds.

Using a slotted spoon, transfer the stalks to the ice water, drain and pat dry. In a small bowl, drizzle the parsley stalks with a little olive oil to keep moist.

Clean and season the hake fillets. In a large, deep frying pan, heat the olive oil. Add the garlic, half the parsley and cook over a moderately high heat until fragrant, about 2 minutes.

Add 250ml water and bring to a boil.

Add the clams, cover and cook, shaking the pan a few times, until the clams open, about 3 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the clams to a plate, leaving their juices in the pan. Remove clams from their shell.

Reintroduce the clams, followed by the hake, skin-side up for about 3 minutes. Turn the fish and cook for another 3 minutes. Add the remaining parsley, take the fish out and dust it with the nutmeg and finely ground ham. Keep to one side briefly.

Arrange the parsley stalks on the side of the plate with a few drops of olive oil. Place the fish in the middle of the plate with the broth and clams. Delicately place the garlic wafers on top.