Mackerel

Our sortie to the fish stall in the marketplace on Saturday produced a couple of large mackerel amongst other things. The fish as always looked really good and when I asked for two mackerel, I received the obligatory response "Two - each".

He looked at the fish for a moment and said "I've got more out in the van," before heading off and then returning with a large box of the beauties. Look at those he offered - this man loves his fish. He picked a couple of them out and put them on the scales.

He gutted them and then wrapped them up before coming back with, "what else?" Sardines and anchovies were the others today: an oily fish overkill probably.

The mackerel were to be simply baked en papillote to eaten flaked on some bruschetta with horseradish and freshly roasted beetroot. The only problem was the beetroot.

On this feted Saturday, Dartmouth could only offer pickled beets and so it was a trip to Kingsbridge on the bus on Sunday to see if the town could offer some. We had already booked a meal at the Crab Shell for Sunday Lunch and there is a good bus service from Dartmouth even on a Sunday.

We had an hour to spare when we arrived and almost immediately, opposite the little bus station, we spotted an organic grocers. Yes, they had some beetroot and they also had horseradish root as a bonus. Not to mention the fresh turmeric root which we picked up for another day.

Back to the mackerel meal, this was intended to be a light supper after feasting at lunch time. The beetroot was simply roasted in the oven at 180C for about 40 minutes to an hour then peeled ( when cool enough) and set aside.

I chopped up 4 tomatoes into a small dice and added olive oil , 3 minced garlic cloves, some dried thyme and a splash of balsamic vinegar. These were mixed will and left to stand for when needed on the bruschetta.

The fish had already been gutted so the cavity was loaded with butter and fresh dill and then placed in greaseproof paper and folded over for the oven. I made a fatal mistake in that I used the weight of the fish to keep the packet together by turning the fish over onto the paper seam. Obviously this allowed the butter to escape into the pan and the result was a buttery mess in the bottom of the oven.

However, the fish went into the oven also at 180C for about 30 to 40 minutes. For the beasts that we had it took a full 40 minutes.

It wasn't technically bruschetta but rather thin slices of sour dough with grains which was lightly toasted first during the latter stages of the fish cooking. Then the tomato mix was spread liberally on top and then returned to the oven for a further while.

The fish cooked to a treat and was flakey and well mackerelly. It went beautifully with the beetroot (which I had cut into batons) and was complimented by some horseradish. I confess that this came from a jar and was not made up to order from the fresh root that we purchased in Kingsbridge. The tomato covered bruschetta added a little substance and an acidic hint to offset the fish.

As mackerel are seasonal visitors to our seas I will have to start making plans to freeze a few for the winter.