Up and about early waiting around for deliveries, so I figured I’d try and bash out a couple of blog posts,.

Skate may not be at the top of everyone’s list at the fishmongers, but I’m going to give you three reasons why you should give it a go. 1. It’s easy and fast to cook; from prep to plate in less than 20 minutes. 2. Skate flesh is really satisfying; meaty and buttery in equal measure. 3. It’s a much more sustainable choice of white fish. Sold?

If you can get them, use salted capers. They are less mushy, and taste better, just rinse off the salt before you use them.

Ingredients (serves 2)

2 skate wings

Handful of flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped

1tbs small capers

50g unsalted butter

1 lemon, juice only

Groundnut oil

Flour

Salt & pepper

Method

Set your oven to 200c, and then dust your skate wings with seasoned flour, patting off the excess.

Get a frying pan on the hob on a medium high heat, add whichever flavourless cooking oil you want to use, and then fry the wings on either side until golden brown. This should take one or two minutes. The wings can be pretty big, so if there’s not room in your pan, just do one at a time.

When done, remove the wings from the pan, and put them on a baking tray in your pre-heated oven to cook for a further 5 or 6 minutes.

Whilst this is going on, turn up the heat on your hob and dump the butter the same pan you fried the fish in. You want the butter to foam and start to turn brown, and when this is beginning to happen add the lemon juice and capers and stir vigorously. Remove from the heat after a few seconds, and then mix in the roughly chopped parsley.

When ready, take the skate out of the oven, and generously spoon the sharp, salty, nutty brown butter over each wing.

Serve with a watercress salad and some new potatoes.