I must admit, my wife Majken does most of the cooking when we are at home. When I cook at home, I keep it very simple and leave it up to good quality ingredients. I am originally from Cornwall and grew up eating a lot of fish.
I really enjoy barbecuing as in my opinion you can obtain amazing flavours. If you do not have a barbecue, you can use a griddle pan to cook the fish for this recipe.
You can also play around with the fish you use, depending on what is in season and what is available from your fishmonger.
Jordan Bailey is head chef at Michelin two-star restaurant Aimsir in Co Kildare
Charred Dublin Bay skate wing with wild garlic and brown butter hollandaise
Serves four
Ingredients
4 300g skate wings (skinned)
3 large egg yolks
400g salted butter
50ml white wine vinegar
1 bunch of spring oniona
Fresh thyme, rosemary and marjoram
Dried wild garlic flowers (or substitute crisp fried onions)
Wild garlic capers (or normal capers)
Wild garlic powder (or garlic powder)
Method
1 Light your barbecue.
2 Make a brine for the skate wings. This will season your fish throughout and improve the texture when cooked. Take two litres of cold water and add 100g of sea salt. Gently heat until the salt has dissolved, then chill in the fridge before use. When the brine is cold, submerge the wings into the brine and leave for 20 minutes. Remove, wash under cold water to wash away the brine and then pat dry with a cloth. Leave the fish to temper out of the fridge for one hour before use, if not using straight away.
3 To make the hollandaise, take 300g of the salted butter and gently melt it in a saucepan. Once melted, turn the heat up slightly and take the butter until it is brown in colour. It should smell similar to baked biscuits when it is ready. When browned, immediately remove from the heat and set to one side.
4 In a bowl whisk the egg yolks, white wine vinegar and a tablespoon of cold water until it turns slightly pale in colour. Place the bowl over a saucepan half-filled with water that's simmering, to create a bain-marie. Slowly add the warm browned butter to the egg yolks and vinegar over the simmering water while whisking constantly. The idea is that the water in the saucepan will heat the bowl to cook out the egg, to thicken the emulsion. Do not allow the mixture to get above 60 degrees Celsius as it will scramble. If it starts to get too hot remove it from the heat and add a little cold water. Season to finish and adjust acidity with more vinegar if needed. Keep the hollandaise in a warm place, covered with cling film until needed.
5 Place the remaining butter into a saucepan and melt it with a few sprigs of thyme, rosemary and marjoram to make a fragrant herb butter to brush over the skate wing. Leave herbs in the butter to infuse.
6 To cook the skate wing, make sure the grill bars of the barbecue or the griddle pan are very hot. This will help prevent it from sticking. Lightly brush the skate with the herb butter on both sides and place it on to the hot bars. After 15 seconds, raise the bars so the fish is at a medium heat. After four minutes flip the fish, lower the bar and repeat the process. After four minutes on the opposite side take the fish off the heat and leave it to rest for a further four minutes to complete the cooking process.
7 To serve, re-brush the skate with the herb butter but more generously this time. Evenly sprinkle capers and dried garlic flowers (or crisp fried onions) over the wing. Place the wing to one side of a warm plate and pour the hollandaise onto the other. Dust the hollandaise with the wild garlic powder (if using normal garlic powder use very little) and then serve.
Kitchen Cabinet is a series of recipes from chefs who are members of Euro-Toques Ireland, who have come together during the coronavirus outbreak to share some of the easy, tasty things that they like to cook and eat at home #ChefsAtHome
