Fine French food (without the fat): Grilled skate with sauce vierge

 

Haute cuisine usually comes with a side order of guilt. Not any more. Harry Eastwood’s new book dishes up calorie-lite alternatives to French classics...

Not much beats a beautiful piece of grilled fish with a refreshing, balanced herb sauce.

This recipe makes enough sauce for six servings – you can store it in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week.

Not much beats a beautiful piece of grilled fish with a refreshing, balanced herb sauce

Not much beats a beautiful piece of grilled fish with a refreshing, balanced sauce

Serves 2 (245 calories per serving) 

INGREDIENTS

  • 2 small skate wings (approx 250g/9oz each). Sea bream, turbot, sole or scallops also work well
  • 2tbsp olive oil

For the sauce (serves 6)

  • 6tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • A handful basil leaves, finely chopped
  • A handful chives, finely chopped
  • A small handful tarragon leaves, chopped
  • 4 small ripe tomatoes, halved, de-seeded and diced
  • 2 preserved lemons, diced
  • 2 small garlic cloves, crushed to a paste
  • Salt and black pepper

METHOD

Preheat the grill.

For the sauce, whisk together the olive oil with the lemon juice until it is emulsified.

SKINNY SECRET

Here’s a calorie count that might catch your attention: the same amount of salmon served with sauce vierge would cost you 419 calories per portion,and tuna would be 353 calories, as opposed to 245 for skate!

Add the herbs, tomatoes, lemon and garlic. Season with salt and black pepper, then set the sauce aside for the flavours to develop for at least ten minutes.

Meanwhile, brush the skate wings on both sides with olive oil and place on a baking sheet.

Grill under a high heat for 5 minutes on the first side and 3 minutes on the other side.

Serve hot, with the sauce vierge piled on top of the fish.

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