Smoked mackerel potato salad

Not much beats a nice new potato gently cooked until tender dressed in a little vinaigrette, well that was until I decided to put a Christmas dinner idea to the test, well half an idea anyway. I plan on spit-roasting a rolled pork belly on the day, I’ve ordered a nice 4-5 kg piece, and I figured that there would be a decent amount of fat rendering out so I should just shove a tray of potatoes under it to catch the fall off and roast away at the same time, which got me thinking about cooking in fat and how chips cooked in dripping are far superior to any of those canola/soy/peanut fried things.


I set about with a bunch of new potatoes, a few tubs of dripping and a good stalk of rosemary. In a cast iron dish dripping got melted down with the fragrant rosemary and when finally liquid, the potatoes submerged. Then the dish was covered and placed in a low oven for a couple of hours until the potatoes were tender, the house was filled with beautiful roast beef aromas. I let the lot cool before transferring to the fridge to set up, well not before testing one of course.


The next day I spied probably one of my favourite ingredients at the local shops, smoked mackerel, and with the potatoes sitting in the fridge and it being a balmy 30ºC I figured a nice light salad was the best option. Potatoes gently encouraged out of their fatty tomb and split lengthwise, placed cut side down in a hot cast iron pan to become crisp and golden, flipped over and sprinkled with salt then set aside on some paper towels. Medium eggs placed in cold water, brought to the boil, then 3 minutes of bubbling before being dunked into ice water. Mackerel flaked. Celery sliced on a heavy bias. Tomatoes quartered and seeded. Capers rinsed. Parsley picked over. Red onion diced. A fifty-fifty vinaigrette made, 1 part olive oil, 1 part cider vinegar, dijon mustard and a dash of salt. The potatoes now just a little warm, arranged on a plate with generous amounts of the flaked fish scattered about, the vegetables evenly deposited, topped with an egg cut in twain, garnished with a generous scattering of parsley and capers, finally healthily dressed with the vinaigrette.

Mackerel Pâté

I’m quite surprised I haven’t posted this quick and easy little recipe before, it’s certainly been made plenty of times and is a great little spread for gatherings, or a smaller portion in a ramekin for a picnic. The latest version I changed things up a bit and added a decent portion of cream to the mix, which made for a lighter texture, but by all means if you’re scared of a little fat, leave it out, you will however end up with a more dense pâté.

300-400g Smoked Mackerel (about 2 packets)
50g Melted unsalted butter, plus a little extra to seal
250 ml Cream
3 Spring onions, roughly chopped
1 Lemon (juice and rind)
1 Tbsp Horseradish cream, if you have fresh add to taste
Parsley, to garnish

Peel the skin off the mackerel and flake it into a food processor, add the cream, butter, spring onions, lemon rind and horseradish. Blitz until smooth. Taste, season with salt, pepper and lemon juice as needed.

Transfer the pâté to a serving dish and smooth the top, decorate with flat parsley leaves and then cover with melted butter. Place the dish in the fridge to let the butter set, I like to leave the pâté at least overnight so the flavours can develop. Serve up with some good crusty bread and sharp white wine.

Kedgeree

With plenty of leftover mackerel needing to be used (from the congee), I decided to whip up some kedgeree.

Firstly rinse the rice and get 2 pots of water on to boil. When the water is boiling, pour the rice into one pot and place 1 egg per portion in the other pot. Cook for 10 minutes (or until the rice is done), immediately get the eggs under running cold water, and rinse the rice.

While the rice and eggs are cooking; dice up some shallots; de-seed and dice a couple of tomatoes; finely chop parsley; grate garlic and ginger; and flake the smoked mackerel.

In a frying pan melt some butter and sauté the shallots, ginger and garlic until soft, then add a tablespoon of good curry powder and a teaspoon or so of mustard seeds. When the spices are aromatic add a dash of vinegar (I find this adds some much needed acid to cut through the oily fish). Add the diced tomato and a splash of water and cook until almost dry. Finally add the cooked rice, parsley and fish. Stir through, taste and adjust seasoning.


Plate up with a few extra flakes of fish and quartered eggs.