Ingredients

• 300g/10½oz hake fillet
• scaled and pin-boned
• fine salt
• for salting
• 150ml/5fl oz beef stock
• 150ml/5fl oz red wine
• 150g/5½oz cockles in shells
• 1 garlic clove
• crushed
• 1 banana shallot
• finely chopped
• 2 sprigs fresh thyme
• crushed
• 150ml/5fl oz dry white wine
• 100ml/3½fl oz whipping cream
• 50g/1¾oz unsalted butter
• chilled
• 2 tbsp snipped chives
• oil
• for frying
• 2 handfuls curly kale
• stalks removed
• squeeze of lemon juice
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

• Sprinkle the fish liberally with fine salt and leave in the fridge to cure for 20 minutes. Wash under cold water
• pat dry and cut in half.
• Preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/Gas 5.
• Pour the beef stock and red wine into a pan and bring to a simmer until thickened and reduced to about 150ml/5fl oz total. Set aside.
• Rinse the cockles well under running cold water and discard any with cracked or damaged shells. Discard any open cockles that do not close when given a sharp tap. Heat a medium saucepan with a lid to a high temperature
• add the cockles
• garlic
• shallot and thyme. Pour over the white wine
• add a pinch of sea salt and cover with the lid. Cook for 1 minute
• or until the cockles just open. Drain in a colander set over a bowl
• reserving the liquid. Discard any cockles that fail to open.
• Pick out three-quarters of the cockles from their shells
• reserving the remainder in their shells. Discard the thyme
• garlic and shallot.Â
• Pour the reserved white wine liquid through a fine strainer into a clean saucepan and set over a medium heat to simmer and reduce in volume by about one-third. Add the cream and cook for another 5 minutes or until reduced and thickened. Whisk in the cold butter
• add the chives and season with salt and pepper.
• Heat a non-stick oven-proof frying pan over medium heat
• add a splash of oil and cook the fish skin-side down for a few minutes. Transfer the pan to the oven for 4 minutes. It should feel firm when pressed lightly. Remove the pan from the oven using an oven glove and rest the fish skin-side down for 1 minute.
• Put the kale into a small pan with a splash of water and a pinch of salt. Put a lid on the pan and cook for 2 minutes until just tender
• then turn off the heat and drain.
• Re-heat the beef sauce and drop all the cockles
• picked and shelled
• into it.
• Pour the white wine sauce onto two serving plates
• place the kale in centre. Squeeze a little lemon juice over the fish and then arrange on top of the kale skin-side up. Garnish with the picked cockles and shell-on cockles with a little of the beef sauce. Serve immediately.