wholly mackerel Creative way to use this multifaceted fish either as part of great snack or a main that will have them coming back for more
cooked like a burger mackerel makes a fantastic snack or main meal it is also a great way to get the kids eating fish a whole mackerel might put them off but you can tempt them to try fish with the big mack this can be served with a relish of your choice like corn or spiced tomato
In italy this tagliolini dish is quite often made with red mullet but small fillets from mackerel work just as well
the sicilian version would contain pine nuts and currants in that traditional sweet-and-savoury style chilli would be used when currants were not available and sometimes fried breadcrumbs are scattered on top it is an ingenious way make a tasty pasta sauce with a few fish fillets that would not stretch to a full meal
Damien the head chef in my soho restaurant came up with this mackerel tail idea at what I call Challenge Hix a little competitive thing I do with my chefs on tuesday mornings I get them all together and we have a cook-off doing 20 dishes using random seasonal ingredients as with one of last week is recipes I cannot recall ever seeing samphire in thailand but there are plenty of decent substitutes - try cha-om pak boong (water spinach) or baby asparagus sliced lengthways maybe throwing in a few capers too
makerel is one of the best fish you can eat raw it is also a great vehicle for spicy flavours these little mini popadoms which you can buy cooked or uncooked are perfact larder ingredients for back up snacks and canapes If you buy the un cooked ones you simply deep fry them moving them around in the pan with a slotted spoon for literally a minute or you can cook them under a medium grill brushed with a little vegetable oil If you cannot find mini popadoms just cut up a regular popadom