Hake and spring greens with EVOO aioli.

Sustainably sourced wild Cornish hake, spring vegetables, and May's vibrant, fruity Club extra virgin olive oil from Albacete create a beautifully simple, light dish that allows the natural flavours of each ingredient to shine through.  

Seasonal eating—whether it’s from the ground, land or sea—is such a simple, but effective way to eat a delicious and wonderfully varied diet.

“It’s at the heart of everything I cook,” says James Holdsworth, chef and creator behind this recipe. 

Our top tip: go generous with the aioli. This moorish dip can amp up everything from sandwiches to scrambled eggs and it's sure to be your go-to sauce this spring.

Here's the method:

Feeds 4.

• Start by making your delicious garlicky aioli. Take 2 eggs and separate the yolks from the whites, dropping the yolks straight into a mixing bowl (or into your mixer if not by hand). Now use a Microplane to grate the garlic into the bowl. You could also use a garlic crusher, we just want to avoid solid lumps of raw garlic. Next in goes a pinch of sea salt and the juice of half a lemon. Making sure to not drop any pips.

• Whisk these together and then slowly drizzle in your olive oil. Pour in the oil too quickly and you’ll likely split the mixture. As you whisk the oil in, you’ll see your aioli start to thicken. Keep pouring the oil until you have reached your desired thickness.

• Taste with a little spoon, season accordingly and set to one side whilst you prepare the rest of your dish.

• Firstly, prepare and clean your artichokes by removing the tougher outer leaves and the tips. Half the artichoke and remove the fuzzy choke, before cutting into wedges and immersing in lemon water to prevent them from discolouring.

• Preheat the oven to and cut out 4 sheets of baking paper and tin foil large enough to contain the hake, artichokes and asparagus. 

•  Place the artichokes and asparagus down first as a base then scatter over the roughly chopped garlic, lemon slices and thyme.

•  Finally place a fillet of hake in the center of each sheet of baking paper and top with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper.

• Close up the baking sheet parcels, and wrap these in turn with tin foil, forming a well-sealed package. Then arrange the parcels on a tray and bake in a preheated oven at 200°C, for about 20-25 minutes. 
  

• Remove the parcels from the oven and carefully open them up. Serve the parcels directly on to the plate alongside a dollop of your EVOO aioli. Top with a sprinkling of chopped parsley and an extra drizzle of olive oil.   

   

Top tip: 

If you'd like a more mild, or mellow flavour for your aioli this is a great way to use any small amounts of EVOO you may have left from February or March pouches. This oil is still perfectly delicious it will just pack a bit less of a punch.