Hake Kiev Recipe

Hake Kiev

Who doesn't love a chicken Kiev? Warm melting garlic butter with seafood is another match that is hard to beat, so we created the Hake Kiev, and it is absolutely delicious.

Serves 2

Ingredients

100g garlic butter 

2 thick portions of skinless hake fillet, weighing about 200g each

2 eggs, beaten

2 handfuls of plain flour

panko breadcrumbs

oil for deep-frying

Method

Shape the garlic butter into a block about the same length as a pack of butter (that’s about 10cm). Wrap in baking parchment and put it in the freezer for 30 minutes to set hard – this ensures that when you cook the fish you’ll get the butter oozing out.

Place a fillet portion on a work surface. Place one hand on top of the fillet and, with a sharp knife, make an incision about two-thirds of the way into the fish to make a pocket. Do this with the other portion of fillet. Take the butter from the freezer and cut it in half. Slot a piece of butter into each fish fillet, pushing it well inside. 

Put the eggs in a bowl and the flour and breadcrumbs on separate plates. Using one hand, dip each piece of fish first in the flour, then the egg and finally the breadcrumbs. Repeat this 2 or 3 times until you have nice thick, even coat on each piece of fish. Cover and chill for 30 minutes.

Heat the oil in a deep pan to 170°C. (If you don’t have a thermometer or deep-fat fryer, heat the oil in a deep pan – it is hot enough to fry the fish when a small piece of bread dropped in quickly fizzles and crisps.)

Deep-fry the fish Kievs for 6–7 minutes until golden and crisp. Alternatively, shallow-fry them for 2 minutes on each side, then transfer to a 180°C Fan/200°C/Gas Mark 6 oven and finish cooking for 5–6 minutes. Serve with a green salad.