The delicate flavour of roasted skate wings is given a boost with chillies and roasted cherry tomatoes. A dressing of capers, lemon juice and mustard gives a further piquant kick.
So delicious and yet still on the table in under 40 minutes, perfect for knocking up a quick Friday fish supper.
Skate in UK waters is a protected species, so what we buy in the fishmongers is actually Thornback Ray. Even stocks of rays have been depleted by overfishing, but a recent 2-year ban saw their numbers recover dramatically.
The classic way to cook skate is French meunier style in a brown butter sauce with capers. That’s great if you like capers, but my wife doesn’t so we use this roasted skate wings recipe.
Capers are the immature, unripened, green flower buds of the caper bush. Native to the Mediterranean, they are grown commercially in Italy, Spain and Morocco.
If you like flat fish then try Baked Turbot or Roasted Plaice.
Incidentally, while most people would not knowingly eat fish bones, skate and rays have a skeleton made from cartilage. My mother-in-law would eat the ribbons of cartilage much to my amazement, saying “they were good for you”.
Roasted Skate Wings
Ingredients
- 2 Skate wing 300g
- ½ tsp Dried chilli flakes
- Olive oil
- 200 g Cherry tomatoes
- 2 lemons
- 2 knobs Butter
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
- Sea salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200°C/Fan 180°C/Gas 6. Toss the cherry tomatoes and chilli flakes in 1 tbsp of olive oil and roast in a large roasting pan for 10 minutes.
- Season the skate wings with salt and pepper and transfer to the roasting pan, moving the tomatoes to one side. Roast for 15 minutes.
- Make the dressing by gently melting the butter in a small non stick pan, let it cool for a while and then whisk in 2 tbsp's olive oil, the juice of a lemon and the mustard.
- Pour the dressing over the fish and tomatoes and return to the oven for 10 minutes more.
- The skate is cooked when the flesh can be lifted away easily from the centre bone.
To serve
- Serve with a quartered lemon, the tomatoes and the pan juices.New potatoes go well to soak up the sauce.
