Method

Ray Wings are something people take for granted, they are plentiful in the West of Ireland and not too expensive to purchase. The taste is amazing and they are very easy to handle. They do not hold well, so must be used within two days of being caught. But when freshly caught and served they make for a delicious meal that you won’t be forgetting in a hurry. Here, O’Connor’s Seafood Restaurant shows you how to pan-seared Bantry Bay Ray Wings with fresh mango and roast red pepper salsa, asparagus spheres, mango reduction, and rocket pesto.

1. The first thing you need to do is marinate the Ray Wings. Prepare them for this by making sure all the thorns are taken off and then cut each wing in half so each portion will have two pieces. Chop all the ingredients for the marinade roughly and scatter over the wings with some rapeseed oil. Allow this to sit in the fridge for at least an hour.
2. For the salsa, peel the mango and dice it into a mirepoix. Roast the red pepper in the oven for twenty minutes, remove the skin once cooked, and dice.
3. Finely chop the spring onion and the coriander, mix all the components together, and set aside.
4. For the mango reduction, peel and roughly chop up the mango into a saucepan.
5. Sprinkle the sugar over adding two tablespoons of water to loosen the mixture, once bubbling takes off the heat and blitz.
6. Pass through a fine sieve to take out any rough bits and set them aside.
7. For the rocket pesto, roast the cloves of garlic in the oven for 6 minutes.
8. Blitz together the rocket, garlic rapeseed oil, and the 20g of parmesan together and set aside.
9. For the ray wing, high heat on a pan with a drop of oil.
10.  Add in the ray wings dark side down, cooking for four minutes on either side, seasoning with salt pepper, and lemon juice, and finish in the oven for a further six minutes, when checking if cooked the fish should just flake away from the bone easily and the skin should slip away.
11. Bring a pan of water to a simmer and Blanche asparagus for four minutes.
12. Lightly sauté the spheres in garlic butter and season.
13. To plate use the mango reduction and rocket pesto to decorate the plate.
14. Sit two pieces of ray wings on each plate.
15. Place a spoonful of mango salsa on top of the rays finishing with the sautéed asparagus spheres. Serve with lemon.
16. Enjoy