Nasello alla ligure is a very simple but elegant dish of hake fillets cooked in extra virgin olive oil with Liguria’s signature pairing of small sweet Taggiasca olives and pine nuts. It’s a quick dish to make. Just 10-15 minutes. This is one of those dishes that can really impress for very minimum effort or expertise.
The essence of Nasello alla ligure is simplicity. One pan, quality fresh ingredients and about 15 minutes are all it needs. With so few ingredients, nothing hides a tired fish, so freshness comes first. Look for firm, moist flesh and a clean smell of the sea. Choose your best extra virgin olive oil too, because it forms the base of the sauce and you taste every drop.
Hake is fished all year round, mostly with bottom trawl nets, so you can cook this dish in any season. Its white flesh is soft and mild, which suits olives and pine nuts. Fillets work best but thick steaks also work well.
Olives are central to Italian cooking, but the the Tagggiasca olive is by far my favourite. I would definitely recommend trying to source these olives for this dish, but there is no reason other olives won’t work too.
Serve with boiled new potatoes in their skins, smothered in butter.
Buon appetito! 🇮🇹
More Liguria Recipes
- Orata alla Ligure – crispy pan-seared sea bream fillets with Taggiasca olives, toasted pine nuts and potatoes.
- Buridda di Seppie – a Ligurian seafood stew of cuttlefish, potatoes and peas.
- Funghi alla Genovese – sauteed mushrooms in the Genoese style with butter, olive oil, garlic and fresh oregano.
Nasello alla Ligure (Hake with Taggiasca Olives and Pine Nuts)
Equipment
- Large frying pan with a lid
- Wooden Spoon
- Fish slice
- Chopping Board
- Sharp knife
- Medium saucepan for the potatoes
Ingredients
- 4 fillets hake (about 150 to 180 grams each)
- 1 clove garlic (finely chopped)
- 3 tbsp flat-leaf parsley (finely chopped)
- 50 grams pitted Taggiasca olives
- 50 grams pine nuts
- 100 ml dry white wine
- 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- Salt (to taste)
Instructions
- Heat the extra virgin olive oil in a pan and add the garlic and parsley and cook gently for a few minutes, without letting the garlic brown.
- Add the hake steaks and brown them on both sides.
- When the flesh turns white, scatter in the olives and pine nuts, and pour in the wine and bring to a gentle simmer..
- Cover the pan and cook for 5 to 10 minutes, until the sauce thickens.
- Taste the sauce and add salt only if it needs it.
- Serve the hake with boiled potatoes and spoon the pan sauce over the top.
Notes
- You can also use hake steaks, although I prefer to fillets as they have no bones.
- The hake is ready when the flesh is white all the way through and flakes with a fork.
- Add salt last, because the olives already season the sauce.
