Skate wings in peppery black butter with fennel seeds
In all the years Cookipedia has been running, I've not put this recipe up. Time to rectify that!
Skates, rays and sharks are all part of the Chondrichthyes family which have bones made from cartilage, almost soft and bendy, so no nasty 'stick in your throat' bones.
As with most fish they don't need much cooking and because the skate wings are of a fairly thin and of an even thickness, they cook quickly - about 4 minutes a side.
Ingredients
Printable 🖨 shopping 🛒 list & 👩🍳 method for this recipe
- 2 Skate wings
- 2 teaspoons fennel seeds
- 1 teaspoon black peppercorns
- 3 tablespoons of plain flour
- 2 teaspoons of butter
- 2 teaspoon olive oil
- 10 new potatoes
- 1 cup of frozen peas
- 1 fresh lemon
Method
- Pop the fennel seeds and the peppercorns in a pestle and mortar and smash them up. Don't worry if you can't get the fennel seeds to a powder, the flaky bits are fine.
- Shake the smashed spices onto a plate and coat either side of the skate wings
- Repeat the same process with the flour so the wings are well covered.
- Using two pans if you can, heat the pans to medium, when hot add a teaspoon of butter to each pan, the moment it starts to sizzle and colour, ad a splash of olive oil to each pan, mix well and slide the skate wings into the pan.
- Cook for 4 minutes on each side.
- Meanwhile steam the potatoes and microwave the peas.
Serving suggestions
Serve with wedges of lemon and mayonnaise - Yum!
Recipe source
- I got the inspiration to try this recipe from reading Jamie Oliver's 'Great Britain Recipe Book' one rainy Sunday afternoon.
Variations
I love the flavour of masa harina so use whenever I can. Even in this dish it imparts its character. Us it if you can, or even yellow cornmeal.
Chef's notes
You could use an egg wash to assist the flour in sticking to the fish. Our chickens are not laying at the moment so thankfully this recipe seems to work just as well without.