Loin of Cornish Hake
With polonaise, purple sprouting broccoli, marquis potatoes and saffron cream
This dish is made up of some characteristic elements. Polonaise is an old-style finish for vegetables, marquis potatoes are a classic preparation of piped mashed potato. A white wine sauce is enhanced with a little saffron.
Maris piper potatoes, one of the best for mashing, are boiled and passed through a fine sieve to create a smooth mash. Egg yolks are used to enrich the mash and it is delicately flavoured with nutmeg. Piped into rosettes it is then baked and filled with tomato concasse.
Hake is a large fish caught off the deep Cornish waters. It looks tricky but is surprisingly easy to fillet and will yield thick loin steaks. It was certified sustainable by the Marine Stewards Council in 2015 and its creamy flesh suits many cooking methods and recipes. Alternatives are Cod, Haddock and Pollock.
Purple sprouting broccoli is a great UK vegetable currently in season. It has boundless flavour and is really good for you.
Chefs note - Concasse tomatoes is a technique for peeling and deseeding tomatoes. Take whole tomatoes, remove the core with the point of a sharp knife, then cut a cross in the skin on the top. Place into boiling water for 10 seconds or until they start to blister then immediately place in iced water. The skins should just fall off. Cut each tomato into quarters, carefully remove the seeds and dry each quarter on a piece of kitchen towel. Finally roughly chop the tomatoes.
