hake with lemon couscous

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Hake with lemon couscous, a delicious fish main. Pairing this great sustainable fish with the fresh flavours of the Mediterranean.

Hake with a lemon couscous is a dish that I love to prepare as it takes no time at all to get on the table. Alongside eggs, fish is my favourite fast food. Full of protein, healthy and it takes minutes to cook. I’m lucky in that my family all love fish and therefore it’s a regular feature on our dinner table. My youngest has been known to ask why people mess around covering fish with batter and “stuff”. She likes her fish “just pan fried please!” I have to say that when you get fish as fresh as the beautiful hake we cooked with here, I agree entirely.

Hake is a great sustainable fish and therefore a fish we should be eating more of. A member of the cod family, Hake is a delicious fish to cook. That said it is still not as popular here as Cod or Haddock. The Spanish love hake and I suspect much of our catch in the UK may land on the continent. This is a pity as it really is a great fish to eat and cook with. Thick flakes of beautiful white fish, pan fried and finished with just a little butter. Perfection!

The inspiration for this dish comes from a trip I took in Noosa, Australia. After a boat trip up the river we stopped and had lunch on a platform that sat right out over the water. We were served the most simple plate of pan fried fish with a lemon couscous. It’s one of the most memorable lunches I’ve eaten and one that I’ve recreated many times since. I like to pack the couscous full of vegetables, lightening it wish a good squeeze of fresh lemon.

Our thanks to Stephen at Peterhead Fish Company for supplying the beautiful fillets of hake used in this dish. For details of Stephen’s fish round and the fish he has available please head to his website for further details.

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If you like this recipe then try our Easy Fish Pie, our Hake with Warm Red Quinoa Salad, our Chinese Steamed Seabass or our Simple Devilled Mackerel.

Hake with lemon couscous

Hake with lemon couscous, a delicious fish main. Pairing this great sustainable fish with the fresh flavours of the Mediterranean.

5 from 7 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: British

Keyword: Pescetarian, Sustainable

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes

Servings: 2 servings

Calories: 645kcal

Author: Lesley Garden

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 red onion - finely chopped
• 1 courgette - diced
• 1 red pepper - diced
• 2 cloves garlic - crushed
• 100 g couscous
• 300 ml vegetable stock
• 1 zest and juice of lemon - finely grated
• 20 g butter
• 1 handful fresh parsley - chopped
• 400 g hake fillet - skin on and cut into 200g portions
• 1 tbsp sunflower oil
• salt & pepper
• 10 g butter

Instructions

• Pour the olive oil to a saucepan and place over a medium heat. Add the onions to the pan and cook gently for 5 minutes taking care to soften but not colour the onion.
• Add the courgette, pepper and garlic to the saucepan and continue to cook for a further minute. Then add the couscous, lemon zest and juice and stir well to combine.
• Pour the vegetable stock over the couscous and take the pan off the heat. Cover with a lid and leave the couscous to steam for 5 minutes.
• Meanwhile place a non-stick frying pan over a medium-high heat and add the sunflower oil. Season both sides of the fish and place skin side down in the pan. Cook the fish for 3 minutes on this side then turn. Add a knob of butter, cook for a further 2 minutes and remove from the heat.
• The couscous should now have absorbed all the stock, Season with salt and pepper, add the parsley and fork through the butter.
• Spoon the couscous onto warm plates and place a fillet of hake on each. Serve immediately.

Notes

We have used fresh Hake fillets in this recipe, however you can easily substitute with other white fish. Sea bass or sea bream work just as well.

 

Nutrition

Calories: 645kcal | Carbohydrates: 58g | Protein: 44g | Fat: 27g | Saturated Fat: 10g | Cholesterol: 32mg | Sodium: 875mg | Potassium: 1349mg | Fiber: 7g | Sugar: 10g | Vitamin A: 2795IU | Vitamin C: 127.8mg | Calcium: 142mg | Iron: 3.6mg