What I had for dinner:

Skate in Spicy Sauce

20 Nov 1994 21:11:41 -0500

Yesterday, I bought some skate at Citarella, intending to have it today in its classic incarnation with capers and vinegar sauce, but today I found myself harvesting my very first crop of ginger as I was repotting my window-sill plantation. I got two ginger roots, rather small by supermarket standards, but at least they're mine! So I decided to switch gears and use that fresh ginger instead.

I first prepared a broth (court-bouillon) with 1/2 lime (squeezed, and added juice and rind), 1 small habanero pepper in slices, 1 inch of ginger (one of the two roots), the leaves from one coriander plant, 2 bruised cloves of garlic, and enough water so that the skate would be easily covered. The broth was boiled under lid for 10 min, then the skate was added, and cooked barely simmering for 10 min (exact time varies with thickness, of course).

Meanwhile, ginger the size of 2 large peas, 1 clove of garlic, 1 habanero, and the leaves from 6 stalks of coriander were chopped finely, and set aside.

Baby zucchini were trimmed and cut in half, and sauteed in a covered wok with olive oil until just done. The spice mixture was added, together with the juice of the other 1/2 lime, brought to a boil, and served immediately with the skate.

(The zucchini did not work as well as I expected. Something more neutral, such as rice, would probably turn out better.)

To drink, one of the masterpieces of the art of brewing monks: Affligem Tripple, from Belgium.