Taher Jibet of Weymouth’s The Dining Room shares his recipe for a great-tasting dish featuring a lesser-used sustainable fish

Seared Hake Loin with Paella Risotto - Serves 4 people 

  • 4 portions of hake loin (from your local fishmonger)

Season the skin side of the fish with Maldon sea salt and cracked black pepper. In a hot frying pan with a teaspoon of oil put the fish skin side down and cook until you can see a nice golden colour around the edges, place the fish in a pre heated oven at 220 for about 7 minutes. Do not turn the fish over.

Serve on top of the Risotto.

Risotto

  • 200g Arborio rice
  • Pinch of saffron
  • 1 small green pepper
  • 1 small red pepper
  • 1 small yellow pepper
  • 1 tomato
  • 1 clove of garlic
  • 1 onion
  • 120ml white wine
  • 2 bay leaf
  • 600ml chicken stock
  • 100g salted butter

Start by chopping all of the vegetables as finely as possible.

Heat the chicken stock and set aside.

Melt half of the butter in a pan and sweat the chopped vegetables until soft, add the rice and stir in. Cook dry for 1 minute, then add the saffron and white wine and cook for a further 3 minutes or until the wine has almost disappeared. On a low heat, add the chicken stock one ladle at a time stirring in constantly. The rice should take about 15-20 minutes to cook and be “al dente”. It should be loose but slightly sticky.

Remove from the heat and leave for 3 minutes to rest. Then add the rest of the butter and stir in, this will give it a nice shine and finish.

Add a squeeze of lemon juice just to balance it with the fish.