Hake with Squid Ink Sauce and Garlic Kokotxas

Peel and thinly slice the white onions.

Peel 6 garlic cloves and slice lengthwise. Remove the sprout.

In a cast iron pot, heat the olive oil and sweat the onions and garlic cloves without browning. Quarter the fresh tomatoes, and add them along with the dried fennel and season with fleur de sel.

Add the saffron and the coriander seeds and simmer slowly for 5 minutes. Add the rockfish and sweat without browning for 4 minutes.

Moisten with 2 liters of cold water, add the orange zest ribbons, and bring to a boil.

Skim, take off the high heat and let cook for 25 minutes on the edge of the range. Skim as often as possible. Add a bit of espelette pepper before straining.

Strain through a chinois and bring the liquid back to a boil. Bind this juice with the squid ink, then filter through a fine-meshed sieve, and cool quickly on ice.

Scale and trim the fish. Remove the head. Cut away the fillets carefully and the remove the smallest bones with tweezers.

Slice 4 steaks from the thickest part of the fillets and score the skin slightly with the blade of a very sharp knife, making sure not to cut the meat.

Trim the kokotxas and remove the black interior skin.

Heat the grapeseed oil in a small deep fryer. Remove the large stalks from three quarters of the flat leafed parsley. Wash the leaves and drain well, then plunge into the hot oil 320°F (160°C) and fry without coloring. When the leaves become somewhat translucent, remove with a slotted spoon and place on paper towels.

Season immediately with fleur de sel and keep in a relatively warm place.

In a non-stick pan, fry the hake steaks lightly in some olive oil. Halfway through the cooking, add a bit of butter and baste the steaks continuously.

Stalk, wash and dry the remaining parsley. Chop finely.

Peel the last garlic clove, remove the sprout, and puree.

Heat some olive oil in a sauté pan and sear the kokotxas without browning.

Add the parsley and the garlic. Sweat lightly, cover and cook without browning. Deglaze with the chicken stock, cover and cook slowly.

Drain the hake filets on a rack, season with freshly ground pepper, and place in the center of the plates. Add a dab of butter and a dash of olive oil to the kokotxas’ cooking juice. Drizzle around the hake fillets with the cooking juices.

Heat the ink sauce. Add a dab of butter. Season to taste with salt and a few drops of lemon juice and drizzle the sauce over the fish.

Place the slices of crisp pork belly and fried parsley branches onto each plate. Serve immediately.