Mid- Month Mackerel

Saturday Morning. A week after Remembrance Weekend. The morning after I drove home staring up at the stars that were dotted above the fields and contemplated the wonder of it all. The dog woke me up early, she doesn't do lie ins, and I stumbled out of bed to let her out. I also thought of the cooking project for the day, which would soon find its way into your midst on this blog.

I had recently been for a very special meal at a local restaurant. I'd left the place feeling very lucky. I also left it feeling inspired to cook some new fish dishes in light of the excellent Bream and also Smoked Haddock Recipes we'd consumed there.

That said I decided to cook a dish involving fresh Mackerel and a sauce containing fruits and spices. Here's how I made it:

First thing, prior to a trip out for some excellent frames of snooker and productive Christmas Shopping in rural areas, I decided to make the sauce. The reason for this was that I planned to allow it to ferment and set so as to give it a richer flavour when I came to cook it later. The ingredients for the sauce were as follows:

One Red Grapefruit- sourced from my wonderful local Greengrocer the "Strawberry Basket"
One Orange
A tablespoon of Dried Mint.
A teaspoon of Mustard Seeds.
A teaspoon of Piri-Piri powder.
A teaspoon dried Parsley
A tablespoon of White Wine Vinegar.
Two tablespoons of Olive Oil.

I halved the Grape Fruit and Orange. I then peeled them and ripped them into segments while ensuring that I removed pith to ensure they were not too chewy. Then I added them to a mixing bowl with the herbs and spices, White Wine Vinegar and Olive Oil. I then whisked them in the mixing bowl, until the ingredients were totally blended. I left the bowl containing the blended ingredients in the fridge.

Later, when I returned from Snooker and Christmas Shopping Adventures, I realised it was nearly teatime and time to prepare the final part of the dish.

On the player was Rod Stewart's 1976 corker "A Night on the Town". This was the last record he made prior to, in the eyes of serious music critics and his more hip fans at least, selling out. It has to much on it to commend it from a rollicking cover of Manfred Mann's "Pretty Flamingo", the touching story song "The Killing of Georgie" and "Tonight's the Night (Gonna Be Alright)" a fine opener to the album that was the inspiration for a successful West End Musical inspired by Stewart's Music.

I took two fillets of Mackerel and Fried them in two ounces of melted and Unsalted Butter, I think it is a sin to use excessive salt in cookery you see, and a tablespoon of Olive Oil. I fried them on a medium heat,  with a teaspoon of Piri-Piri Powder, turning them twice over the course of 14 minutes.

I the meantime I cut up two Pak Choi into thin slices and fried them in my Le Cresceut in two tablespoons of Olive Oil with the sauce for a period of twenty minutes. In order to help the flavours of the sauce infuse into the Pak Choi I kept the lid on the Le Cresceut while I was frying the food and stirred it occasionally.

Once the Pak Choi, Sauce and Mackerel were properly cooked I served them. Even the undoubtedly healthy Red Grapefruit was present the dish was not sour. In fact the Piri-Piri and Mustard Seeds gave it a fine balance between fiery flavours  and a fresh and mellow taste that was created by the Mint, Parsley and Oranges. The Mackerel was rich in vitamins and had a fresh but smoky taste too that complimented the other ingredients well. I'll definitely be cooking this dish again, but next time I'll blend the sauce to make its texture smoother.

Red runs the plate- the Red Grapefruit's sour taste complimented the smoky yet fresh taste of the Mackerel.