Skate Wing

I was recently wandering through my favorite Pittsburgh grocery store McGinnis Sisters and I stopped by their fish counter to see what looked fresh.  McGinnis Sisters is a family run local business and my love for this store comes from their philosophy toward local, regional and specialty products.  A lot of their meat and produce is locally sourced.  Their turkey and chicken come from Pennsylvania Amish farms. Their apples, peaches and tomatoes come from Chambersburg, PA. They carry locally raised eggs and locally made butter and cheeses. Their bakery is sublime and their deli products and prepared foods are all excellent. Plus, they stock things that are hard to find on any grocery store shelf.  When I need special ingredients like Dutch process cocoa, San Marzano canned tomatoes or the best Dijon mustard, I know I will find it at McGinnis Sisters. 

The fish case is typically stocked with standard fare like Atlantic salmon, tilapia and haddock fillets, but periodically I find something unique and different.  Apparently that was my lucky day!  What I saw in the fish case was something I’d never cooked before – skate wings.  I’ve eaten skate a number of times at restaurants and I have always loved it.  Skate is a small ray, like a stingray or manta ray.  Skates and rays are members of the shark family and their pectoral fins look exactly like bird wings. Skate wings have a mild flavor but their texture is quite meaty with an interesting corrugated flesh.  They cook quickly and kind of fall apart when overcooked.  I thought I’d give them a try.

My husband was intrigued when I showed him what I’d bought.  I wanted to get a little bit of a crust on the outside and still make sure I didn’t overcook the fish.  I also wanted to serve this delicate fish with a traditional lemon butter pan sauce with a few capers thrown in for a briny punch.  I put a large skillet over medium high heat and dried off surface of the fish.  I put a little salt and pepper on the outside and dusted the fillets very lightly with flour.  The flour allows for a little caramelization on the outside and acts as a thickening agent for the sauce. 

When the pan was hot, I dropped in a nub of butter and before it was completed melted I gently placed the fish fillets in the pan.  They cooked very quickly, about 2 minutes on each side, and I used my biggest spatula to flip the fillets so they didn’t fall apart.  I could tell the fish was done by poking at the flaky layers and looking inside. There were no visible translucent parts of the fish and it was beginning to come apart on its own.  Once the fish was cooked, I removed it from the pan, turned off the heat and made the sauce.  Into the warm pan I added the juice from a large lemon and about a tablespoon of capers and swirled it around to pick up any fond left from the fish.  Then I whisked in about two tablespoons of butter until the sauce just came together.  I drizzled the sauce over the fish making sure we each got some capers.  We were so pleased with the flavor of this skate wing!  It was mild and meaty with a really lovely texture.  I don’t see skate wing in the store very often, but when I do, I buy it.  I hope you’ll give it a try.