Winter Skate(s) and Chocolate Bars

   I can think of no better time than winter to go for a skate. A skate dinner, that is! Sure, I love to glide on the ice as much as anyone else, but let me assure you that it is IMMENSELY more satisfying to sit down with an old friend to enjoy a gourmet seafood dinner on a cold winter night than it would ever be to lace up blades and balance on a slice of metal. 
   The day Micky-D and I decided to make this wonderful meal was particularly beautiful, especially for Cleveland. A perfect day to get out of the house and trudge down to the West Side Market to see what fresh gustatory treasures we could find. In fact, the problem with the West Side Market is that there are TOO many treasures to be found. It would be far to easy for someone (aka, myself) to walk into the doors expecting to snag a great deal, and instead walk out having spent $300. In my opinion, it's the equivalent to Cleveland's Culinary Casino...except you never go for broke.
   Luckily McD knew right where to go, so we bee-lined it to Classic Seafood; the same company responsible for supplying many of the 4- and 5-star restaurants in Cleveland. When we got to the counter, the quality was evident and the selection amazing. And even though we knew what we wanted, it was hard to not want to buy one of everything there. From skate to soft shell crab to smoked cod to alligator (yes, alligator), it seemed this place had it all. But alas, we could only buy what we were going to cook, and walked away with our skate wing and two beautiful pink salmon steaks, saving the rest for another time.
  Unrelated to the meal we made, but deserving equal attention, was our trip to Michelle's Bakery where McD got more bread than I could ever fathom to eat. (What can I say? I guess some people really like bread. Fortunately, I am not one of those people, or I would be broke.) The "Marathon Loaf", "2-lb Rye" and I think a doughnut or something, looked good enough to be on the cover of any gourmet foodie magazine, and the uuber low prices could knock you dead from shock. In fact he actually had to buy more to make the $10 minimum to use his credit card. God, I LOVE this place!
   The next stop was just so McD could say "hi" to an old friend of his, but it gave me the opportunity to ogle his goodies. OH, EW! Not THOSE goodies...I was talking about his meat. Okay, this isn't getting any better, is it? Um...let me digress- to start off, we were at Bistricky's Butcher Stand, and the meat I was drooling over came from a cow, okay? If you were there, you'd understand. This guy had the most beautiful steaks and ribs, and roasts, making it my target destination for my next carnal cuisine.
 Our last destination was to the produce section where were stopped at Boutros Brothers Produce stand. These guys have it ALL. Their selection is exceptional, especially in the dead of winter using no preservatives (don't ask me how...). Here its easily to get lost in the rainbow of fruits and vegetables that grace the stands; from strawberries, to broccoli, to persimmons. Thank God my companion had an idea of what he wanted to get because my head was spinning from the all the sights, sounds, and nearby samples; it wasn't until we made it out the door and the first icy lick of lakefront wind brushed my face did I even notice he'd decided on asparagus (classic) and portabello mushroom caps. Um, wait, mushrooms? With fish? It took me a minute of scouring my memory to figure out why  this combo seemed so bizaare to me- I couldn't recall ever having had the two together.
   My parents brought me up on either citrus-marinated or cajun-spiced fish. College introduced me to salsa on fish (actually a "I am super broke" serendipitous discovery on my part) and even fruit with fish...but never mushrooms. It would take a bit of creativity on my part to come up with a dish to cook that night. (Thank goodness for the long run I had immediately following that would allow me to mull this over.) With a little help from my role model Marc from No Recipes, and endorphin-induced enlightenment, I was able to come up with a dish that creatively, and (more importantly) successfully combined these two ingredients. Here's how it went down:
  

Winter Skate:
Things you will need:
CAST IRON SKILLET, citrus juicer, small bowl, saucepan, tin foil

Ingredients:
1 large skate wing
1 lemon- juiced
1/2 large Mayan yellow onion- sliced
2 1/2 Tblsp capers
1/2 stick unsalted butter
couple "glugs" of white wine (we used El Gato Negro 2006 Chardonnay)
EVOO
salt & pepper

1. In your saucepan, melt your butter. Add your onions and heat on medium heat until they are soft.
2. While these are heating, unwrap your skate wing and cut in half. Brush both sides of each with EVOO, then salt and pepper them.
3. Drizzle a little EVOO in your CAST IRON SKILLET and set heat to meduim-low.
4. Before you add your skate to the skillet, add capers, lemon juice, and wine to the sauce. Cook the liquid off, stirring occasionally until it reduces to the desired consistency.
5. Go ahead and place the skate wing in the skillet and cook each side for 3-5 minutes, or until they brown.
6. take off the heat, plate, and spoon the sauce on top and pour yourself some of that Gato Negro. Enjoy!



1. Preheat oven to 225*F
2. Fill boiling pot with water and turn heat on high. Add a dash of garlic salt and a drizzle of EVOO. When it comes to a boil, add washed and trimmed asparagus.
3. In a small bowl, grate the dried shitake mushrooms and add the onion powder and pepper. Set aside.
4. Unwrap your salmon steaks and brush both sides of each with EVOO. Sprinkle mushroom powder mix on each side as well and pat down.
5. Place each in the CAST IRON SKILLET and sear each on both sides for 1 minute. Transfer to your cookie sheet and place in the oven for 25 minutes.
6. Check on your asparagus. Next, add your portabello mushroom caps to the same CAST IRON SKILLET that you just cooked your salmon in... WITHOUT washing it. It will allow the mushroom to absorb some of the flavors of the salmon and will eventually help tie the dishes flavors together. When it is done, set aside, covered in tin foil until the rest of the dish is ready to be plated.
7. To the same CAST IRON SKILLET add the onions and 1/4 cup chicken stock. Saute them for 2-3 minutes, then add the mushrooms and cook one minute more. To this, add the ready rice and one more 1/4-cup of the chicken stock and cook until rice has absorbed all the liquid.
8. Take salmon out of the oven and check for done-ness and strain the asparagus.
9.Plate your dish: Place the mushroom cap belly-side up on the top of the plate. Spoon rice into the cap overflowing over its edge a little. Place salmon steak ontop of rice, leaning against the mushroom, and fan the asparagus in the nook above the ventral fringes. Like so -->

   You'd think that such a great meal couldn't get any better, but our dessert was out of this WORLD! Micky-D and I decided to try this new place right below his apartment (how convenient it must be to live in the heart of metropolis...) called The Chocolate Bar. And OH. MY. GOD. it was fucking phenomenal. Keep in mind that this is coming from a girl who doesn't even like chocolate. I got a coconut-chocolate martini that reminded me of an almond joy, and McD got a double chocolate one that tasted like the  frozen hot chocolate that Dairy Queen used to make when I was in highschool. For dessert, we got chocolate fondue with strawberries, which sent my serotonin levels into overdrive... I was in heaven.