Poached Hake in a White Wine Reduction Sauce

Ingredients:
3-4 hake (cod or haddock) filets
Salt
1 tablespoon good quality oil
2 shallots, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, diced
Dry white wine, enough for a finger's depth in your pan
1 dried or 2 fresh bay leaves
1 tomato, diced
2 twigs of fresh thyme (let's say a teaspoon of dried)
1 teaspoon whole peppercorns (but crushed pepper would probably be okay)
1/2 teaspoon of chipotle powder (or other smokey, hot spice like red pepper or piment d'espelette)
Optional: cream or flour to thicken the sauce

Directions:
Wash the hake and sprinkle a liberal amount of salt on each side of the fish.  Set aside.

Heat the oil until it runs faster in the pan, add the shallots and garlic, sauteing.  After the shallots have browned, stir in the wine and bay leaf/leaves.  Once the wine comes to a strong boil, add the tomatoes, sprigs of thyme, and peppercorns.  Simmer the tomatoes for a bit, add the hake.  Cover.

When the side of the hake have cooked but the center is still raw, flip.

When the fish is completely cooked, take it out of the pan and place it in a serving dish or bowl that you can cover.  Then add the cream or flour to the sauce pan and let the sauce boil down until it is half the amount that you started with.  Once it has thickened appropriately, [strain, if you prefer] pour the sauce over the hake and serve.

Cheers!



PS- We served the dish with crusty bread (to sop up the sauce, of course) and spaghetti squash roasted with olive oil and garlic.  Next time we might add boiled potatoes and brussel sprouts to the hake just before the sauce is poured on instead.