Doc V's Healthy Kitchen

My weekly chat with Mirco, the fishmonger, is often related to ‘what I will prepare with the fish I ordered’. This week he was really surprised I was going to prepare ray in the oven. He tried to convince me to prepare a typical pasta/soup (minestra) where you boil the ray wings in the stock which you obtain by boiling the other parts of the ray in water with some carrots, celery, onion and bay leaves. So what did I finally do?

Put the tail and head of the ray in a large pan. Clean and chop 1 onion, 2 carrots, 2 stems of celery and 2 garlic cloves. Add to the pan. Cover with water. Add a few bay leaves and a few stems of fresh thyme. Heat and allow to simmer for 40-60 minutes. Cool down.

Chop 2 bulbs of fennel, 4 garlic cloves and 500 grams of potatoes. Spread on baking paper on an oven tray. Spread 2 table spoons of olive oil and 1 table spoon of dried basil. Bake in the oven at 200° for 40 minutes. Stir now and again. Season with pepper and salt. Add 2 table spoons of apple capers for extra flavor and structure.

Season the 2 ray wings with pepper, salt and dried thyme. Spread a few little cubes of butter on the ray. . Put on the vegetables during the last 15 minutes of baking time. Dinner is ready!

The following day, strain the broth. Give the fish ( without bones of course) to your cat or dog. Heat a soup pan with 1 table spoon of olive oil. Chop and fry 4 garlic cloves and 1 chili. Add a little can of salted anchovies. Stir and fry. Add 1 can of cherry tomatoes and the broth. Allow to simmer for approximately 30-40 minutes. Taste, add pepper and salt. Although it is not quite what Mirco explained to me, Iris was delighted with this light and tasty soup. Thanks to Mirco 🙃.