Pulled ray wing in seeded buns with fennel slaw.

By Lyssa Firth
Edited by Jonathan Campbell

Ray wing might feel a little niche, but it’s a great fish “gateway” ingredient. With a quick poaching, the flesh flakes away in long juicy strands so it seems to be crying out for the “pulled pork’ treatment – here it’s folded through a tangy barbecue sauce and piled into buns with a sharp, limey slaw […]

Skate and ray wing might feel a little niche, but they are a great fish “gateway” ingredient. They’re cheap, have no annoying little bones (just obvious, easy-to-discard cartilage) and are quick to prepare and tasty to eat. I’ve suggested ray wing here as skate is on the UK endangered list.

With a quick poaching, the flesh flakes away in long juicy strands so it seems to be crying out for the “pulled pork’ treatment – here it’s folded through a tangy barbecue sauce and piled into buns with a sharp, limey slaw.

Pulled ray wing with fennel slaw in seeded buns (serves 4)

Ingredients:

For the ray:

4 ray wings (they vary massively in size so be sensible... some of the hefty ones will definitely serve 2). Ask your fishmonger to skin and trim them for you. 


2 lemons


Plus 4 buns of your choosing – I like something brown and seedy with this.

For the sauce:

2 garlic cloves crushed
1 red onion finely chopped
150ml tomato ketchup
2 teaspoons black treacle
2 teaspoons pomegranate molasses 1 teaspoon mustard
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
I like to add a splash of Tabasco but you don’t need to

For the ‘slaw:

1 fennel bulb finely sliced
Half a red cabbage finely sliced 
10-15 radishes finely sliced
1 red onion finely sliced
4 spring onions finely shredded 
Juice and zest of 2 limes 
Teaspoon of caraway seeds 
Drizzle of toasted sesame oil.

Method:


Start with your slaw. Finely shred all the veg into similar bite-sized pieces. I try to keep my ‘reds’ (red cabbage, red onion & radish) and ‘greens’ (fennel and spring onions) in separate bowls until I am about to serve – as the red veg sometimes bleeds into the green if left to mingle for too long. Zest and juice your limes, mix with the sesame oil and caraway seeds and set aside.

Then make the sauce, finely chop a red onion and crush 2 garlic cloves and sweat down in a little oil until soft. Then add all the other sauce ingredients, ketchup, treacle, molasses, mustard, Worcestershire sauce & Tabasco and heat gently. Blitz with a stick blender until smooth. If it seems too thick you can add some of the fish- cooking-water before serving.

In a large, wide frying pan heat water and 2 quartered lemons. When it has come to the boil, turn the heat right down and add your fish. Poach very gently for 10 minutes turning the fish halfway through. Remove the fish from the water and leave to cool for a few minutes.

Then shred the meat from the bones of the fish and add into the sauce, folding through to make sure every piece is covered in the sauce. Mix your red and green slaw veg together and dress with the limey/sesame/caraway dressing.

Then just assemble - pile the ray into the buns, top with the slaw and serve (with napkins!).

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Images. The Obsessive, Lyssa Firth
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