Pan Fried Skate with Root Vegetables and

Red Wine Sauce

Serves 4

A guest recipe by Tom Kerridge from the Saturday Daily Mail magazine

This delicious flaky fish works well with the natural sweetness of root vegetables.

You will find plenty to choose from right now, such a swede, turnip, carrots and beetroot

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so use whatever you can find.

Ingredients

Olive oil

200 g of mixed root vegetables, diced; half a Swede, half a turnip; One carrot, peeled; one red beetroot; one parsnip, peeled

4 tablespoons of flour

2×300 g skate wings, cut in half

For the red wine sauce:

100 g of butter

8 Shallots, peeled and halved

50 mls/2 fluid ounces red wine vinegar

250 mls/9 fluid ounces red wine

500 mls/18 fluid ounces chicken stock

1 teaspoon full of capers

Handful of thyme leaves

AND THIS IS WHAT YOU DO …

1. Preheat the oven to its lowest setting.
   
   
2. Heat a large nonstick frying pan over a medium heat, add a little olive oil and heat until just smoking.
   
   
3. Add the chopped vegetables and cover the base of the pan in an even layer. You can do this in batches - just don’t overcrowd the pan as you want to colour the vegetables evenly.
   
   
4. Cook until nicely golden, remove from the pan and drain on kitchen towel, then set aside.
   
   
5. Repeat with any remaining vegetables, then once they’re all cooked placed them in the oven to keep warm.
   
   
6. To make the sauce, melt 50g / 1 3/4 ounces of the butter in a saucepan over a low heat.
   
   
7. Add the Shallots and fry until golden.
   
   
8. Add the red wine vinegar, then leave to bubble for 8 to 10 minutes until reduced by half.
   
   
9. Add the chicken stock and leave to simmer until reduced by two-thirds.
   
   
10. Remove from the heat, taste and then set aside.
    
    
11. Put the flour on a large plate.
    
    
12. Lightly season the skate wings, then dip both sides into the flour and pat off any excess.
    
    
13. Heat the remaining 50g/1 3/4 ounces of butter in a frying pan you used for the vegetables and carefully add two of the skate wing pieces.
    
    
14. Fry until golden, about four minutes aside. Remove and rest on a plate while you fry the remaining pieces.
    
    
15. Reheat the red wine sauce, pass it through a sieve into a jug and add the capers.
    
    
16. Serve skate wings on plates with a few spoonfuls of the cooked vegetables on top.
    
    
17. Drizzle the sauce around the sides and scatter the thyme leaves over, if using.