Wood Fired Planked Hake & Prawns with Fire Roasted Salsa

Yes, that does say ‘planked’ hake and no, we haven’t gone mad! Cooking on a piece of wood is an age-old technique and allows the food to take on a lovely smoky flavour whilst retaining its moisture. David used a piece of cedar for this recipe and alongside the hake cooked some delicious prawns, fire-roasted salsa and samphire.

See how he did it on our YouTube Channel here.

Wood Fired Planked Hake & Prawns with Fire Roasted Salsa – Ingredients

• 600g piece of hake loin
• 8 large uncooked prawns. we used shell on
• 120g samphire
• olive oil
• salt & pepper

For the salsa:

• 1/2 red pepper, cut into chunks
• 1/2 yellow pepper, cut into chunks
• 1 red onion, cut into wedges
• 2 large tomotoes, halved
• 1 chilli pepper
• 2 cloves of garlic
• olive oil
• fresh coriander

Wood Fired Planked Hake & Prawns with Fire Roasted Salsa – Oven state etc

1-2 Mississippi for the salsa

2-3 Missisippi for the fish

2 oven proof pans

Wood Fired Planked Hake & Prawns with Fire Roasted Salsa – Method

1. Soak your plank of wood in water overnight. We find it sits well in a large lasagne dish or roasting tin and you will probably need to weight it down to stop the plank floating.

2. Place all the salsa ingredients in a large bowl and toss with a couple of tablespoons of the olive oil. Put them in a pan and cook in a hot oven close to the fire until soft and charred at the edges – about 6-7 minutes then let the veggies cool down.

3. Dry your plank and then heat it up in the oven until a little charred and smoking – be careful as you don’t want it to catch fire!

4. Season your hake with salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil. Place onto your plank and then cook in a hot oven for about 3-4 minutes. Turn the plank around and cook for a further 3-4 minutes or until cooked through; the cooking time will depend on the thickness of the fillet. Add the oiled prawns for the last couple of minutes.

5. Place the samphire in a pan with a little water, cover with foil and steam in the oven for 2-3 minutes.

6. Roughly chop the cooled salsa ingredients with a small bunch of coriander and add the juice of 1/2 a lime and season to taste with a little salt and pepper.

Wood Fired Planked Hake & Prawns with Fire Roasted Salsa – Alternatives

• cod loin would work equally as well in this recipe as would salmon or pollock
• if you like a spicier dish just add more chillies to the salsa or some smoked paprika
• swap the samphire for some spinach, chard, kale or asparagus
• instead of coriander in the salsa, use mint, parsley or basil or a combintion of these kind of herbs

Wood Fired Planked Hake & Prawns with Fire Roasted Salsa – Wine suggestion

Susie at Michael Sutton’s Cellar recommends a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc such as this Staete Landt 2018 to go with your hake and prawns as it will cope well with the smokiness of the fish & the acidity of the salsa.

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