Skate With a Lemon Caper Sauce

No meat today. That’s okay because I get to treat myself to seafood. What’s that you see in the photo? It’s skate wing.

First off, don’t be freaked out by trying this seafood out. It’s inexpensive ($1.99/lb), easy to cook, it’s tasty, has a tender, flaky white meat and there are no pin bones.

Skate has a bone that has the texture of cartilage and one can eat skate with your hands or simply flake off the meat with your fork. Either way it’s easy to eat and it’s delicious!

Another thing you should know about skate is that it’s quite easy to tell if it’s fresh or not. Your first indicator is smell. Get up close and take a whiff of your skate. If you get any remote ammonia-like odour, don’t buy it. Also, the skate wing should be smooth, not slimy to the touch.

All fresh seafood should smell of the sea. If any other odour comes to you, leave it alone. There’s an old saying, “the best seafood is the freshest seafood”. Next time you feel like having seafood, ask the fish monger what’s the freshest catch of the day. You will end up with superior results.

For Christmas, I received a new cook book, Greek of course and it’s called New Greek Cusine, written by Aristedes Pasparakis and Byron Ayanoglu. I personally know Byron as he used to be a client of mine at the bank.

Byron’s been writing, traveling and enjoying food for many years and he’s written many other books on different cuisines. He’ll also appear with Anthony Bourdain in No Reservations where he guides Tony through the Greek Islands.

This skate dish was inspired by Byron and Aristedes’ recipe but I tweaked it to my liking. The skate was delicate, contrasted by the crust from the flour and, the lemon, oil and salty capers topped off a refreshing seafood dish. I’m looking forward to trying more recipes from this book!

Skate With a Lemon Caper Sauce
(for two)

1 skate wing, cut into long slices
1/3 cup flour
1/4 cup corn flour
salt and pepper
1 Tbsp unsalted butter
1/4 cup capers
1/2 cup dry white wine
2 Tbsp. olive oil
2 lemon slices
1 tsp. caper brine

1. Whisk together the wine, oil and season with salt & pepper to your taste. Set aside.
2. In a small pot, cover the lemon slices with just enough water to cover them. Place the lid on the pot and simmer for 10 minutes or until the rind is soft. Drain and set aside.
3. Rinse your skate wing and pat dry. Cut it into long thin strips, perpendicular to the main bone column.
4. In a large skillet, mix your flour, corn flour with some salt and pepper and dredge the pieces of skate in the flour mixture.
5. Heat a large fry pan on high. Add 2 turns of olive oil in pan and reduce to medium, then place your pieces of skate into the skillet and cook for five minutes. Flip the skate pieces and fry for another five minutes. Add some butter and swirl the skillet so the butter can reach the whole surface of the skillet. Transfer your skate to a plate and keep warm.
6. Put the same skillet back on the the stove on medium heat and add the lemon slices, oil, capers, caper brine and reduce for 2-3 minutes. Add a slurry of corn starch and water (1 tsp corn starch & 1 Tbsp. water) if you wish to thicken the sauce.