Читать книгу Made in Italy: Food and Stories - Giorgio Locatelli - Страница 61

Skate is a great, great fish, with a fantastic flavour, and it’s in season most of the year. In winter, I love it cooked this way, served with balsamic vinegar and pomegranate seeds; or in the summer, simply with a tomato salad.

Sadly, as with so many of our favourite fish, we have taken too much of it from the sea, so it is an endangered species, but I am including this recipe in the hope that stocks will recover and we can enjoy it in good conscience again.

2 tablespoons sultanas

400ml white wine

260ml white wine vinegar

1 shallot, roughly chopped

1 carrot, roughly chopped

1 bay leaf

2 parsley stalks (no leaves)

3 black peppercorns

2 tablespoons salt

2 medium-sized skate wings, cleaned and trimmed (ask the fishmonger to trim off the thin part of the skate wings for you)

4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

½ pomegranate

2 tablespoons pine nuts

2 bunches of rocket, roughly chopped

2 tablespoons Giorgio’s vinaigrette (see page 51)

4 teaspoons aged balsamic vinegar

Soak the sultanas in water for about 30 minutes, until they plump up.

Put the wine, 200ml of the vinegar and 1 litre of water into a large pan, wide enough to hold the skate wings side by side. Add the shallot, carrot, herbs, peppercorns and salt. Bring to the boil and put in the skate wings, thickest side downwards. Turn the heat down to a simmer and cook for about 3-4 minutes, depending on size, until the flesh will come away from the bone if you insert a knife. Remove the pan from the heat and leave the skate in the cooking liquid for a couple of minutes.

Take the skate out of the pan, then put it on a tray and drizzle it with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and the rest of the white wine vinegar. Cover with cling film, so that the fish ‘steams’ in the marinade and keeps moist.

Meanwhile, deseed the pomegranate, reserving the seeds. Toast the pine nuts in a dry pan until golden.

Take the skate wings from the marinade and cut each one in half, through the bone (it will be soft and easy to cut through).

Toss the rocket with the vinaigrette, arrange on 4 serving plates and place the skate on top. Scatter over equal quantities of pomegranate seeds, sultanas and pine nuts. Drizzle the rest of the olive oil and the balsamic vinegar over the skate.