Jamie's Fish Supper
Crispy-skinned mackerel with Asian-inspired dressing
With fluffy basmati rice and herby chilli sprinkles
25 mins
Not Too Tricky
serves 4
Recipe From
Ingredients
1 mug of basmati rice
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 x 170g mackerel, from sustainable sources, ask your fishmonger, skin on, butterflied and pin-boned
1 lemon
1 spring onion, trimmed and finely sliced
2 sprigs of fresh coriander, leaves picked and chopped
2 sprigs of fresh mint, leaves picked
optional: 1 fresh red chilli, finely sliced
For the sauce
1 clove of garlic, peeled
1cm piece fresh ginger
1 spring onion, trimmed
1 fresh red chilli
2 limes
a couple of sprigs of coriander, leaves picked
4 teaspoons sesame oil
4 tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons runny honey
extra virgin olive oil
Method
Versatile mackerel is extremely good for you and this sweet, spicy sauce really makes it sing.
- Mackerel is part of the same family as tuna. We’ve come to depend so heavily on tuna that it’s now under a huge amount of pressure – this really is the time to turn to mackerel as an alternative.
- It’s widely available in our waters and way down the food chain so we need to be buying and selling more of it, and learning how to cook and enjoy it. I like to treat mackerel more like a steak, and give it flavour and attitude to make it sing. It is so delicious, incredibly versatile and extremely good for you.
- Put a griddle pan on a high heat to get really hot. Add the rice to a pan with 2 mugs of boiling water and a pinch of salt. Bring to the boil on a high heat then turn the heat down to low, cover and leave for 7 to 8 minutes.
- Once the griddle is screaming hot, add the mackerel skin-side down (you may need to do this in batches). Use a fish slice to press the fish onto the pan. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt and pepper and finely grate over the zest of a lemon. Reduce to a medium-high heat and cook for about 8 minutes in total.
- Meanwhile, make your sauce. Use a fine grater to carefully grate the garlic, ginger, spring onion and chilli into a small bowl. Grate in the lime zest and mix, you should have a lovely slurry. Tear in the coriander leaves, add the sesame oil, soy sauce, honey and squeeze in the juice of the limes. Finish with a good lug of extra virgin olive oil then have a taste – you want to have a balance between sweet, sour, heat and fragrance.
- Check the mackerel, they should be lovely and dark on the skin side so carefully flip them over to finish cooking for a final few seconds. Check your rice; all of the water should have been absorbed. Divide the rice between your plates, top each portion with a piece of mackerel then drizzle over some of that gorgeous sauce. Scatter over the spring onion, mint, coriander and chilli, if using.
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