Ingredient of the Month
February: Skate

Cooking with this flat, diamond-shaped fish is the perfect way to shake up your culinary repertoire. Its sweet flesh and versatility makes Skate our Ingredient of the Month.

Buying: Smaller skates are sold whole, and larger ones are sold in pieces. The edible portions of the skate are its wings, “cheeks,” and liver. The boneless flesh is typically pinkish or a milky white, resembling that of scallops.

Storing: Skate is best prepared and eaten 1 or 2 days after it is caught. It should be rinsed before it is cooked, and soaked for 2 hours in a mixture of water with lemon juice, vinegar or milk. This mixture will reduce the slight scent of ammonia that is commonly associated with skate, which also disappears once cooked.

Cooking: Ask your fishmonger to remove the thick skin from the skate. This fish is often poached for about 15 minutes, baked for 15 to 20 minutes, or sautéed for approximately 8 minutes in a brown butter.


Sautéed Skate with Blood Orange Grenobloise

Serves 4

Ingredients:

¾ cup small cauliflower florets (from about 3 ounces cauliflower)
1 ½ cups plus 1 tablespoon canola oil
kosher salt
black pepper in a mill
1/3 cup ¼ inch crustless white bread cubes
½ cup milk
1 cup wondra flour or all purpose flour
4 skate wings, 4 to 5 ounces each, skin removed by fishmonger
½ cup (1 stick) cubed cold unsalted butter plus 4 tablespoons at room temperature
20 blood orange segments (from about 4 oranges) plus ½ cup blood orange juice (from a third orange; navel oranges can be substituted)
1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tablespoon capers, rinsed and drained
2 tablespoons roughly snipped flat-leaf parsley leaves

Method:

Put the cauliflower in a bowl, toss with 1 tablespoon oil, and season with salt and 3 grinds of pepper, r to taste. Heat an 8-inch sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add the florets and sauté until golden brown, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and set aside.

Heat a 10-inch sauté pan over low-medium heat. Add ½ cup oil and gently heat it. Add the bread cubes and cook them slowly until the oil starts to bubble around their edges and they turn a nice, even, golden color, approximately 9 minutes tilting the pan as necessary to ensure even cooking. Add 2 tablespoons room-temperature butter and swirl it as it melts continuing to cook the croutons to a deeper golden color and crunch texture. Transfer the croutons to a clean paper towel to drain and season lightly with salt. Set aside.

Put the milk and wondra flour in separate shallow dishes. Dip each skate wing in milk, then dredge in wondra flour, and gently shake off any excess flour.

If possible, do the following in two pans in order to cook all 4 wings simultaneously: Heat a 12-inch sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add ½ cup of the old and heat the oil. Add 2 skate wings and 1 tablespoons butter to the pan. Sauté the wings until crisp and dark golden-brown on both sides, 3 to 4 minutes per side. Use a fish spatula to transfer the wings to a clean, dry surface, and season with salt. Discard any oil and butter remaining in the pan and repeat with the remaining oil, skate, and butter.

Heat a 10-inch sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add the cold butter, swirling the pan to keep it moving. When the butter has melted and turns brown, approximately 2 minutes, vigorously whisk in the blood orange juice to make a sauce. Add the capers, parsley, cauliflower florets, and orange segments. Toss in the croutons and season to taste with salt.

To serve, spoon some sauce onto each of 4 dinner plates. Set a skate wing atop the sauce and serve.