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If, like me, you've got a few spare mackerel at the moment but are finding it a bit warm to bother with much hot food, you might like to try this. There's almost no work involved (yay!) but you do have to wait a few hours for the salt & marinade to do their thing.
For 2 good-size mackerel fillets (must be spanking fresh, no good if it's sweated all day in a carrier bag in the sun!) start off by cleaning the fillets, then lay them in a shallow tray & coat generously on both sides with about 8oz of salt. Then set them on a strainer or some kitchen-roll and pop them in the fridge for 1 to 2 hours.
After an hour or two, take them out and wash all the salt off under the cold tap. Pat dry then remove all the bones - the ones that run down the lateral line are best cut out all in one go like this:
Make a cut either side of the bones, angled slightly inwards, so that you can pull the whole strip of bones out in one go.
In a shallow glass or plastic dish mix the following:
8 fl.oz. rice vinegar (or apple vinegar is also very nice!)
3 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons mirin ( a sweet, rice based cooking wine available in the asian section of most good supermarkets. If not available add an extra tablespoon of sugar).
2 teaspoons salt
Then simply place the fillets in the marinade and press a sheet of kitchen-roll over the top (it'll soak up the marinade and help ensure it gets all over the fillets). Then pop back into the fridge for 2 more hours.
And that's it! To serve, pat the fillets dry and remove the outer filament-like skin (this is very important as it contains parasitic bacteria & you don't want to go getting the lurgy!!).
Then cut into 1cm wide pieces and serve with a little finely shredded fresh basil and a dipping sauce of dark soy sauce with freshly grated ginger. It also makes a great topping for sushi - cut into 4mm or so slices, on an angle, and add a dab of wasabi & a small amount of sushi rice - serve with some pickled sushi ginger and soy sauce.
Well, that was my tea and very nice it was too!! Bon appetit
Gary
For 2 good-size mackerel fillets (must be spanking fresh, no good if it's sweated all day in a carrier bag in the sun!) start off by cleaning the fillets, then lay them in a shallow tray & coat generously on both sides with about 8oz of salt. Then set them on a strainer or some kitchen-roll and pop them in the fridge for 1 to 2 hours.
After an hour or two, take them out and wash all the salt off under the cold tap. Pat dry then remove all the bones - the ones that run down the lateral line are best cut out all in one go like this:
Make a cut either side of the bones, angled slightly inwards, so that you can pull the whole strip of bones out in one go.
In a shallow glass or plastic dish mix the following:
8 fl.oz. rice vinegar (or apple vinegar is also very nice!)
3 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons mirin ( a sweet, rice based cooking wine available in the asian section of most good supermarkets. If not available add an extra tablespoon of sugar).
2 teaspoons salt
Then simply place the fillets in the marinade and press a sheet of kitchen-roll over the top (it'll soak up the marinade and help ensure it gets all over the fillets). Then pop back into the fridge for 2 more hours.
And that's it! To serve, pat the fillets dry and remove the outer filament-like skin (this is very important as it contains parasitic bacteria & you don't want to go getting the lurgy!!).
Then cut into 1cm wide pieces and serve with a little finely shredded fresh basil and a dipping sauce of dark soy sauce with freshly grated ginger. It also makes a great topping for sushi - cut into 4mm or so slices, on an angle, and add a dab of wasabi & a small amount of sushi rice - serve with some pickled sushi ginger and soy sauce.
Well, that was my tea and very nice it was too!! Bon appetit
Gary
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