Black Butter Skate

By corlear

Ingredients

• For the noisette butter:
• 11/4 cup butter
• For the meunière sponge:
• 11/2 cup water
• 83/4 oz noisette butter (see previous step)
• 1/2 cup butter
• For the vinegar gelatin:
• 1/4 cup Sherry vinegar
• 2 tsp powdered agar-agar
• 1/4 de sheet gelatin (previously rehydrated in cold water)
• For the capers in hazelnut oil:
• 16 capers, whole and firm
• 11/2 tbsp hazelnut oil
• 1/4 cup water
• To clean the skate:
• 1 skate (2.2 lb)
• For the beurre noir potatoes:
• 41/4 oz mashing potatoes
• 3 tbsp noisette butter (see previous step)
• salt
• To finish:
• sunflower oil
• salt

Details

Servings 4

Preparation

Step 1

For the noisette butter:
1. Place the butter in a pan over a medium heat. When it is golden brown, remove from the heat and strain.

For the meunière sponge:
1. Mix the ingredients in a round metal dish (8" in diameter and 10" high). Heat at 60-160ºF and keep warm.

For the vinegar gelatin:
1. Mix the vinegar and powdered agar-agar.
2. Stirring continuously, bring to the boil over a medium heat. Remove from the heat and whisk.
3. Dissolve the gelatin in the mixture.
4. Pour a ¼" layer into a dish.
5. Leave to set in the fridge for at least 3 hours.
6. Cut into 1/5 x 1/5" cubes. Keep in the fridge.

For the capers in hazelnut oil:
1. Soak the capers for 30 minutes in water to remove the excess vinegar.
2. Drain the capers and leave to marinade in the hazelnut oil for approximately 30 minutes.
3. Leave to drain in a colander.

To clean the skate:
1. Use a knife to slash the skin between the body and the wing.
2. Use a cloth to pull the skin off the wing.
3. Use a pair of scissors to separate the wings from the main body.
4. Following the line of the fibers, cut the wing in half so that you get two equal pieces.

For the beurre noir potatoes:
1. Peel and roughly cut the potatoes in small uneven pieces.
2. Put in salted cold water, bring to the boil and cook for approximately 20 minutes. Drain. They have to be thoroughly cooked.
3. Mix the potatoes with the noisette butter, making sure the potatoes are completely coated. Keep warm.

Final Steps & Preparation:
1. Season with salt and seal the skate on each side in 0.4º olive oil on the grill for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat, cover and leave to rest for 4 minutes.
2. Remove the two filets from each wing and then join them together underneath.
3. Emulsify the liquid in a Thermomix and whisk the surface to introduce as much air as possible and make a foam that we call sponge, in this case a meunière sponge.
4. Heat on a large dish in the salamandra for 10 seconds.
5. Put 4 capers at the left-hand edge of the plate and 1 oz of potatoes at the top of the plate.
6. Place 4 cubes of vinegar gelatin around the potato and place the skate with the thicker part pointing towards the top of the plate.
7. Heat the plate in the salamandra for 10 seconds. Put 2 soup spoonfuls of meunìere sponge on the thicker part of the skate, piling the sponge up and covering a ¼ of the skate.
8. Put a little noisette butter from the potatoes on the capers and serve.