Skate Baked In The Bag With Artichokes Purple Potatoes Capers And Crème Fraîche Recipes

SKATE BAKED IN THE BAG WITH ARTICHOKES, PURPLE POTATOES, CAPERS AND CRèME FRAîCHE

Steps:

• First make your 4 tinfoil or greaseproof paper bags. Do this by taking 4 x A5-sized pieces of foil or greaseproof paper, fold each one in half then fold up the 2 ends tightly, giving you an 'envelope'. Preheat the oven to 250ºC/475ºF/gas 9. Boil your spuds until cooked, then drain and put to one side to cool. Slice them up roughly. Peel back the artichoke leaves, remove the chokes with a teaspoon, then rub the artichokes with lemon juice to stop them discolouring and slice very finely. Put the artichokes and potatoes in a bowl with the melted butter, thyme, parsley and capers and season well. Toss together and divide between the bags. There'll be a little butter left over in the bottom of the bowl, so you can add a little olive oil to it and use this to rub on to the skate pieces.
• Season the fish then place on top of the potatoes and artichokes. Add a glass of wine to each bag with a sprig of rosemary, tightly sealing the final side and pulling up the corners so that the liquid is contained. Bake on a roasting tray in the preheated oven for 15 minutes. By this time the bags will be beautifully puffed up. Serve at the table so that your guests can open their bags themselves, leaving a plate of really flavoursome vegetables, fish and juice. Serve with a dollop of crème fraîche, seasoned with a little salt and pepper, and a nice green salad.

BAKED SKATE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a baking dish.
• Finely grate the zest from 1/2 of the lemon. Cut lemon in half, remove seeds, and juice it into a small bowl. Mix bread crumbs with melted butter in another small bowl.
• Rinse skate wings and pat dry. Cut into 4 pieces and place in the prepared baking dish. Season with salt and pepper, sprinkle with lemon zest, and pour lemon juice over top. Sprinkle with dill and then bread crumb mixture.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes. Continue to bake, checking in short increments, until fish is uniformly white throughout and can be easily lifted from the skeleton, up to 5 more minutes; do not overcook.
• Carefully move to a serving platter and garnish with lemon slices and dill sprigs.