Mackerel with beetroot & plantain

Mackerel is a fantastic and health giving fish. It is packed with Omega-3 and offer about 50g of protein for 500 calories on a decent sized fish. For a heart helthy diet is is arguably a must. Of course like most fish there are the bones but you can always get your fishmonger to fillet it for you if that is a worry. On the other hand, you could always cook it whole and remove the bones after it has cooked.

Mackerel is a bit scarce in off of Dartmouth at hte moment and that is a shame because it wasn't so many years ago that you could see the shoals bubbling and boiling on the surface of the water on the way out to the castle. However I am not in Dartmouth at the moment, I am visiting Newcastle where it seems the beasts are in good supply.

A trip to Grainger Market yielded a fine specimen for lunch today and I decided to pair it with plantain and beetroot bought from a well stocked greengrocers also in the market. The structure of the meal and style of cooking is very much in line with our new approach to eating in terms of carbohdyrate and fat content. Basically no 'gratuitous' carbs and olive oils prmarily the only oil in place. Lots of vegetables. Obviously using an oily fish we were going to major on omega 3 oils but that too was in the right direction.

In a word the main objectives of our diet are :-

• weight loss ( by way of calorie deficit)

• protein intake for muscle preservation

• heart health (blood pressure and cholesterol)

It is more or less a mediterranean style diet that we have adopted but anyway, down to hte business of cooking.

Ingredients

1 mackerel (about 345g)

1/2 a plantain

1 baked beetroot

1/2 a florence fennel bulb

6 garlic cloves

50g cooked pearl barley

1 large ripe tomato sliced

50g washed baby spinach

Juice of half a lemon

2 tsp EVOO

Method

Preheat the oven to 200C (180C fan).

Line a baking tray with baking paper.

For the mackerel either have it gutted by the fishmonger of gut it yourself and place it on baking paper . Add 1 tsp EVOO and a squeeze of lemon juice and the fold up en papillote. Place the parcel onto the lined baking tray. (The lining is for the beetroot)

Wash and top and tail the beetroot and cut into segments or quarters depending upon size and lay these on the baking paper alongside the fish. When the oven is at heat, place the tray on the middle shelve and bake about 20 - 25 minutes depending upon size. Check after 20 minutes and return if not fully cooked.

Peel and slice the half plantain and slice the half fennel bulb. Peel the 6 garlic cloves. Set all aside until the fish has been in the oven for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile lay out the washed spinach on the serving plate and wash and slice the tomato and set aside.

When the fish has been in the oven for 10 minutes heat a frying pan and add 2 tsp olive oil. get the oil hot and then turn down. Add the garlic cloves and fry for about 2-3 minutes, stiring all the time. Then add the fennel and stir (occasionally now). After a further 3 minutes and the plantain and turn the heat down lower and stop stirring for a while. Flip the plantain slices after about 3 minutes and cook o the other side . After they have had a further 3 minutes turn off the heat.

Check the fish after it has been in ht oven 20 minutes and once cooked remove from oven.

Microwave the pre-cooked pearl barley for about 1 minute until hot.

Remove the head of the mackerel ( so that it fits the plate) and lay the fish on hte bed of spinach. Place the pearl barley, fennel , beetroot and plantain around the fish as you see appropriate and poor the juices from the papillote packet onto the fish and the pearl barley. Place the sliced tomato on the dish and add a good squeeze of fresh lemon juice.

Ready to serve

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Observations

The plantain was a little too underripe and so I did not get the banana flavour that I was looking for. Also the dish was served as a mix of hot and cold ingreients (hot fish, cooking liquor, beetroot and pearl barley - the rest cold.) It could all equally have been served cold.

Notwithstanding the above, it was a really good plate of fish complemented by the aromatic vegetables, offering 50g protein and the whole meal taking about 925 Kcal. The vegetables in the main provided a pleasant crunch to the meal and left a very satisfied sense of wholeness after eating.