I grew up eating small fish all my life, something like a porgy would have been considered huge in my childhood. Did we catch bigger fish? Yes occasionally but for the most part we really did not go out of our way to target them. What are you going to do with a 20 pound fish? The restaurants didn’t want it (they don’t filet fish in Croatia, ever) and we could not sell it locally. The really tiny fish, the size of bergals was what we ate most of the time. Brodetto or fish soup were staples, we rarely fried anything.
Most of the time we sold any fish with white flesh and kept what they called “wild” fish we caught on long line. Giant eels, massive skates, sand sharks and such. Maybe you will say that we did not know any better and that is why I hold them in such a high regard.
But living here I tried every fishing I can find. I generally never order meat when I go out to dinner, it’s usually fish. Last night our good friends took my wife and I to Picolla Bussola in Westbury. The company was fantastic and the food did not disappoint. The Chilean sea bass was out of this world.
But before I got together with friends I spent the morning in Catja Café (http://cafe-katja.com/ )with SJ Chef de Cuisine Andrew Chase videotaping and photographing few recipes for future issues of the magazine. We made few dishes but the one I was most impressed with was a stuffed…….SKATE!
Holy crap, it was so good that I would put it on par with any fish I ever ordered in a restaurant. It also brought a lot of memories as it has been at least 20 years since I tasted its delicate meat. My grandparents were good cooks but they would have never thought of stuffing anything unless it was called a pepper. Our basic food way always boiled, boiled and boiled…and in the summertime grilled. Why? grilling was free with twigs from vineyard and wood from trees and wooden stove was cranking anyway in the winter. To use an oven would have meant to use electricity which in those days was very expensive.
Thanks Andrew to introducing me to something I’ve never even considered, a skate presented in such a way that could be served in any restaurant with pride. I think you guys are going to like it
I’ve always been fascinated with fishing lures, and I’ve also always been interested in tinkering and tweaking them. To me, one of the things that attracts me to fishing is the constant experimentation that is necessary to be successful. In order to consistently catch fish, you need to switch things up and present the proper bait at the proper time in the right location. 
