Merluza en Salsa Verde

La storia di questo piatto

Merluza en salsa verde belongs to the Basque coast, where the Cantabrian sea meets green hills and the table is a ritual of patience and pride. Here the sea turns to velvet and parsley to a green mantle: hake and clams held in a quiet, salty embrace.

Ingredienti

• 4 pieces of 150 g Hake fillets (merluza) with skin
• 300 g Manila clams (vongole veraci)
• 4 cloves Garlic
• 70 g Flat-leaf parsley, fresh
• 150 ml Dry white wine (Txakoli or Albariño)
• 200 ml Fish stock
• 80 ml Extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon Type 00 flour
• 2 teaspoons, to taste Fine salt (for the sauce and the hake)
• 2 tablespoons Coarse sea salt (for soaking the clams, about 35 g per litre)
• 1 piece Dried red chili (guindilla)
• 1/2 piece Lemon (optional, not traditional: just for a touch of freshness)

Preparazione

1. First, set the clams to purge (this soaking time is not part of the 40 minutes of active work, so start one hour ahead): dissolve the coarse sea salt in a little under a litre of cold water (about 35 g per litre, like the sea), submerge the clams and let them rest for at least 1 hour, preferably in the dark and cool. This step is never skipped: they will expel all the sand. Meanwhile, wash the parsley, dry it well with a clean cloth and chop it finely with a knife, not in a food processor, since the blade spins fast, heats up and the aroma is lost. Lightly salt the hake fillets on both sides and let them rest for a few minutes.
2. Take a low, wide pan, a terracotta one if you have it, which is its natural home, and heat the oil over medium-low heat: gently brown the thinly sliced garlic together with the whole chili until fragrant, without letting it darken, because if it turns dark it makes the whole dish bitter. The garlic stays in the pan: it is part of the sauce. If you prefer a milder heat, remove the chili as soon as the oil is fragrant; otherwise leave it whole and remove it at the end of cooking. Add the flour and stir with a spoon for a minute, to remove the raw taste and form a small roux; then pour in the white wine, still stirring with the spoon and scraping up the flavours from the bottom. Let the alcohol evaporate until the sharp smell disappears and only the fruity aroma remains. This is the last time you use the spoon to stir.
3. Pour in the very hot fish stock and half of the chopped parsley. From this point on, set the spoon aside and move the pan with a rotating motion, a patient swirl: the starch from the flour and the gelatin released by the fish will bind the sauce into a velvety cream. The sauce is ready when it lightly coats the back of a clean spoon: to test, with the heat off, dip a clean spoon, lift it out and check that the sauce covers it with a thin film, without using it to stir. Taste and adjust the salt generously, as it should already be well seasoned.
4. Drain the clams from the soaking water and rinse them under running water, without pouring the purging water into the pan. Lay the hake fillets skin-side up on top of the sauce (the sauce won't cover them completely, and that is fine), arrange the clams all around, cover and cook over low heat. Now and then swirl the pan to circulate the sauce and baste the fish, but do not touch it with forks or ladles, as it would break. It is ready when all the clams have opened, discard any that remain closed without hesitation, and the hake flakes as soon as you touch it, still glossy and firm, not dry.
5. Turn off the heat and, if you used the whole chili, remove it. Add the remaining parsley raw: it will stay vibrant and fragrant, a lovely contrast to the mellower green of the sauce. If you like, finish with a squeeze of lemon, which brightens everything with the right acidic note (a modern liberty, the classic Basque recipe does without it), and bring it to the table straight in the pan with good bread for mopping up the sauce: this dish waits for no one.