Jack Stein says: “I was asked to create a dish for Rick’s Christmas TV special, he wanted a winter salad using hake. I used a Christmas wreath as inspiration with dark green leaves and bright red beetroot, sourced from around the Camel Estuary and from Padstow Kitchen Garden. Hake is a great fish to use as it is very sustainable, the dish is a perfect light starter to accompany a hearty winter meal.”
7 medium-sized beetroot, peeled
Pinch caster sugar
Salt
1 pared strip lime zest
1 pared strip lemon zest
2 cloves
2.5cm piece cinnamon stick
100g red cabbage, finely shredded
100g green winter cabbage, such as hipsi, finely shredded
100g white cabbage, finely shredded
50g kale or cavolo nero, finely shredded
1 tbsp sea purslane leaves (optional)
Small bunch of sea beet leaves, finely shredded (optional)
Small bunch chives, chopped
Small handful fennel fronds
4 x 100g pieces unskinned hake fillet
25g butter
50ml dry white wine
100ml fish stock
Sea salt flakes
For the dressing
1 tbsp cider vinegar
1 tbsp rapeseed oil
Salt
½ pomegranate, seeds only, to serve
Place two of the beetroot into a small pan with the sugar, a good pinch of salt, the lime and lemon zest, cloves and cinnamon. Cover with cold water, bring to the boil, lower the heat and leave to simmer very gently for one hour or until tender when pierced through to the centre with a fine skewer. Remove the cooked beetroot and set aside to cool.
Meanwhile, roughly chop four of the remaining beetroot and blend in a food processor to a smooth purée. Tip the purée into a sieve set over a bowl and press out all the liquid with the back of a spoon or spatula. You should yield about 75ml / 2 ½ fl oz of liquid. Set this aside for the dressing.
Cut the remaining beetroot into thin slices, then slice into fine matchsticks. Mix the shredded cabbages, sea purslane, sea beet, chives, fennel fronds and beetroot matchsticks together in a large bowl. Set aside. Season the hake on both sides with salt and set aside for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, for the dressing, whisk the beetroot juice with the vinegar, oil and some salt, to taste. Set aside. To cook the hake, melt the butter in a non-stick frying pan large enough to sit the fish comfortably side by side. Pat the hake dry with kitchen paper, add to the pan
skin-side down and cook for 1 – 2 minutes over a
medium-high heat, or until pale golden-brown. Turn the pieces over, add the white wine and fish stock to the pan, cover and cook for 2 – 3 minutes, or until cooked through. Keep warm.
To finish the dressing, whisk 2 tablespoons of the cooking liquid from the fish pan into the beetroot dressing and season, to taste, with salt. Add four tablespoons of the dressing to the cabbage salad and mix until well combined. Season, to taste, with sea salt flakes. To serve, thinly slice the cooked beetroot and overlap the slices to create a disc in the centre of each of four serving plates.
Place a 10 – 12cm/4 – 5in cooking ring into the centre of the beetroot slices and fill with the salad mixture. Carefully lift off and repeat for each of the remaining plates. Stir the pomegranate seeds into the remaining dressing. Place a piece of fish on top of the salad and spoon the dressing and pomegranate seeds around the outside of the plate.
