Easy Midweek Fish Supper Crispy Mackerel with pickled beetroot

Fish is quick and easy to cook and it’s so good for you too. All that healthy Omega 3 oils that plumps up your skin and keeps your blood flowing freely.

Here is a mackerel recipe that is easy to do and so tasty. Cook this for the RNLI fish supper weekend that is coming up soon. If you use a mix of different beetroots, it will make a very striking dish. I used golden beetroot here.

The RNLI Fish Supper weekend

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) is holding its annual Fish Supper weekend on 13-15 October 2017, and encouraging people all over the UK and Ireland to host a fundraising fish-themed meal for friends and family to help the charity save lives at sea.

Why are they doing this?

The RNLI relies on the generosity of the public to fund its lifesaving services, and the charity’s volunteers often sacrifice their precious meal times at a moment’s notice, answering the call of their pagers to save lives at sea. The Fish Supper campaign shines a light on the missed and disrupted dinners RNLI crew experience daily and the commitment and support shown by their families.

If you want to participate and help support the volunteers of this worthy cause, get more details and your fund raising pack here RNLI.org/FishSupper You will also find more fish recipes through that link. If you don’t fancy cooking, just get some fish and chips or a takeaway.

This mackerel recipe is the one supplied by RNLI and all the produce was delivered by Farmdrop. Instead of the regular run of the mill ingredients, I got some fresh mackerel fillets from a fishery, farm fresh beetroot, choice non-bleached garlic and an artisan apple cider vinegar.

It does take a bit of time to roast and pickle the beetroot but it is worth it, especially using the apple cider vinegar. The flavour is so much better than that pickled beetroot that you are used to. I have of course, tweaked this recipe to make it faster and easier to do.

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Crispy Mackerel, Pickled Beets ad Yoghurt Sauce

This is a new way of cooking mackerel for me. It's grilled until crispy with an aromatic marinade. Served with a tangy pickled beetroot to balance out the fatty fish. A great way to get more fish in your diet and the extra dose of naturally occuring Omega 3. 

After making it and tasting it, I am going to put this on my regular repertoire and make a big jar of the pickles to eat with everything else. So easy and so delicious. 

Don't be put off with the prep time. This is mainly the time for pickling the beetroot and marinating the fish. The actual cooking time is minutes. 

Prep Time3 hours hrs

Cook Time15 minutes mins

Total Time3 hours hrs 15 minutes mins

Course: Starter or Main

Cuisine: Modern English

Author: May

Ingredients

• 4 mackerel fillets
• 1 garlic clove
• 1 inch
• piece ginger
• 2 tbsp honey
• 1 tbsp olive oil Beetroot pickle
• 2 large beetroot
• 1 00 g white sugar
• 150 ml cider vinegar
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• Herby yoghurt sauce
• A handful coriander 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
• 5 tbsp yoghurt
• 1 tbsp olive oil Salt and Pepper

Instructions

• Pre eat oven to 200°C.
• Wrap beetroot in tin foil and cook for 40 minutes until soft in the center.
• While the beetroot cooks, make the marinade for the fish. Peel and crush garlic and grate ginger. Mix in a bowl with the honey and olive oil. To prevent the mackerel fillets from curling when cooking, make three scores across the skin of each, before covering with the marinade. (For a quicker alternative way to cook the mackerel, see below) 
• Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
• When the beets are cooked, leave to cool slightly before running under the tap while peeling the skin (be careful of the natural pink dye). Cut the beetroot into small cubes.
• For the pickling liquor, add the sugar, cider vinegar, bay leaves and 150ml water to a saucepan and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 2 minutes.
• Add the balsamic vinegar and beetroot. Refrigerate to cool.
• For the yoghurt sauce, toast cumin seeds in a dry frying pan until aromatic then pour into a bowl. Finely chop the coriander and add to the bowl along with the yoghurt, olive oil and a good pinch of salt and pepper. Give everything a good stir with a spoon. 
• Pop the grill on medium high. Remove the mackerel fillets· from the fridge and cook under the grill for 4 minutes on each side, basting with the leftover marinade as you turn. Serve hot or cold with the pickled beetroot and yoghurt sauce. 
• Serve hot or cold with the pickled beetroot and yoghurt sauce. 

Alternative way to cook mackerel

• If you don't have time to marinade the fish, here is a faster way for your midweek supper.
• Make the slits in the skin of the fillets as above.
• Season the fish with salt and some curry powder of choice.
• Lightly oil a pan. Pan fry, skin side down on medium heat. Watch the colour of the flesh turn opaque as it cooks. When it reaches about half way up, (about 6-7 minutes) turn the fish and cook for a further 2-3 minutes.
• You can roast the fillets in the oven too. Put it on a medium heat (180C), drizzle over some oil and roast for about 10 minutes. Finish under a very hot grill for the crispy skin.
• Serve the fish as above.

The recipe and ingredients was supplied by Farmdrop in support of the RNLI. Do give it a go and let me know how it goes. If you host an RNLI Fish supper, do tweet me some pictures and I will share it.