Ray wings with brown butter and cockles

Simple to make but with enough punch to impress your guests, this recipe uses sustainable seafood and can be teamed with baked new potatoes for a quick and tasty dinner!

Ingredients

  • 4 Fresh Ray Wings
  • Oil, for frying
  • 125g butter
  • 1/2 pint shelled cockles, rinsed
  • 1 tbsp red wine vinegar (apple or sherry vinegar would also work)
  • Small bunch of parsley, finely chopped
  • Squeeze of lemon

Method

  1. Begin by heating your oven to 120°C. Season the ray wings with salt and pepper on both sides.
  2. Heat the oil in a large frying pan and, once hot, add the fish with the thicker-skinned side on the bottom. Leave to cook on a medium-high heat until the skin is golden brown. You may need to do this one by one, or in small batches, dependin gon the size of the pan. The more space they have, the better they'll cook!
  3. Transfer the ray wings to a baking tray, this time placing the thick-skinned side facing up. Place the trays in your pre-heated oven and cook for 15 minutes.
  4. After 15 minutes, use a knife to check that the ray wings are cooked. Inser the knife tip into the meat close to the cartilage - it should no longer be translucent, and should lift away easily. Remove the tray from the oven, add some extra seasoning and leave it to rest while you make the sauce.
  5. Take a small saucepan and heat the butter until it turns brown and begings to smell nutty. Remove the pan from the heat and immediatley add the cockles, shaking around in the pan.
  6. Add the red wine vinegar and parsley to the saucepan. We'ed recommend adding a pinch of salt and a squeeze of lemon, to taste.
  7. Once your sauce is heated through, you can plate up. Place the ray wings with the thicker-skinned side up on a bed of seasonal greens. Scoop some cockles out of the pan and place on top of the fish, with a generous drizzle of the brown butter sauce.
  8. For a heartier dish, serve with some baked new potatoes and another sprinkling of parsley.