Battered hake confit at 45ºc over peppers and rice soup

El Portal del Echaurren
Chef: Francis Paniego
Country: Spain
City: 26280 Ezcaray (La Rioja)
Address: Héroes del Alcázar, 2
(+34) 941354047

This is probably the best recipe today for enjoying such a popular dish, one of the most deeply-rooted in traditional Spanish cuisine, implanted in all environments, omnipresent in the home and in popular restaurants. This constitutes a recreation. While retaining the ingredients and keeping with historical memory, an evolution toward haute cuisine is achieved. The golden veil of batter is retained. Juiciness is accentuated by the sheer volume of the filet and by the introduction of a technique that is currently in the limelight: low-temperature cooking. The textural character of the fish, one of its greatest gastronomic qualities, is enhanced. The ancestral accompaniment of peppers is retained, replacing the morrones or piquillos with a superior variety: cristal, more delicate in flavor and fine in texture, with distinct color. And a sauce is added, in the form of a translucent rice and chicken soup, very balanced, where the grain enhances just as wonderfully as does the essence of the fowl.



The Recipe