Farmers’ markets have wonderful fish stalls; I now buy my fish from a lady from Brighton who brings her catch (freshly caught the day before) to St Mary’s Church in Primrose Hill. One day I bought some delicious hake – its on the ‘take care’ list but when I saw it I thought, well I might as well – its looking at me! It is in season now apparently so not quite so bad. Any large fish would be nice – a big hunk cooked on the bone is especially succulent. This spicy, fiery sauce softened by tahini makes for a delicious supper dish.Serves 4

• 800g hake (or other firm white fish), either 4 steaks, on the bone, or 4 fillets, skinless and boneless
• 60ml olive oil
• 1-2 red chillies (one birds eye and one larger one is a good mixture), chopped widthways into 2cm long chunks, most of the seeds removed
• 3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• 1 tsp caraway seeds, plus 1/4 tsp to serve
• 1 dried chilli, crumbled into 5cm pieces (or 1 tsp sweet smoked paprika)
• 1 kg plum tomatoes, chopped into 1cm dice, or   2 x 400 gm tine
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 1/2 tsp caster sugar
• 5g coriander leaves, roughly chopped, to serve
• salt

For the tahini sauce

• 50g tahini
• 1 tbsp lemon juice

Method

Season the fish with salt and pepper and set on one side

Heat the oil in a flame proof  casserole with a lid, l use a le creuset, and put on a high heat. Once hot, add the fresh chillies, and fry for a couple of minutes. Then add the garlic, caraway seeds and the diced chilli and stir-fry for another minute. Then add the tinned tomatoes, tomato paste, the sugar and teaspoon of salt and bring to a gentle boil. Simmer for 15 minutes until the sauce has thickened. If using a whole piece of fish, add now and put in an oven, pre-heated to 200 C, and roast for about 15-20 minutes with teh lid on, depending on thickness of the piece of fish.

If using fish steaks then you can place the steaks side by side in the sauce and simmer gently for 10 minutes or so until cooked.

While the fish is cooking, whisk up the tahini with the lemon juice until it makes a thick drizzling sauce.

Serve with new potatoes and a salad.