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Skate with black butter, parsley, capers, crushed nuts and crisped kale
Serves 2 Starters and mains
Ingredients
- 50g trimmed curly kale, separated into 3-4cm pieces
- 2 x 250g skate or ray wings
- 1 small onion, sliced
- 1⁄4tsp black peppercorns
- 1 slice unwaxed lemon
- 5tsp small nonpareilles capers
- 15g flat-leaf parsley leaves, removed and chopped
- 50g salted butter
- 5tbsp white balsamic vinegar
- 15g toasted hazelnuts, roughly crushed
Method
Preheat the oven to 190C/375F/ Gas 5. Make sure the kale is as dry as possible by dabbing with kitchen paper. Arrange in a single layer on a large, shallow baking tray and cook the kale for 7 minutes, turning halfway. It will be crisp, but still green.
Put the skate into a shallow frying pan or sauté pan. Add the onion, peppercorns, lemon and 2tsp sea salt and cover with cold water. Place over a medium heat and bring to a barely moving simmer for about 8 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fish. If it starts to boil too fast, lower the heat. If the fish sticks up out of the cooking liquor, baste it and gently turn it halfway through. When cooked, the flesh should just about separate from the thickest part of the cartilage when eased aside with a knife (the cartilage can be frozen and kept to make fish stock).
Remove the fish gently and place on two warmed plates. Scatter with the capers and parsley and cover with foil.
Put the butter in a frying pan over a low-medium heat. Keep a close eye on the colour and after a minute or so, as the foam subsides and the butter turns a nutty colour, pour it evenly over the cooked fish.
Remove the pan from the heat and add the white balsamic vinegar. Return to the heat and allow it to reduce a little to a syrupy sauce, then pour over the warm fish. Scatter over the hazelnuts and add the crisped kale to the plates and serve.
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