First to be tried was the humble mackerel that I went out and caught first thing this morning down at Brighton Marina. Now I’m new to this so wasn’t sure whether the fish needed proper brining or not, so I took the gamble and didn’t; I just gutted, cleaned and thoroughly dried the fish before applying a liberal sprinkling of salt.

I set up the smoker as per the instructions and within minutes, the fish were on and left to get on with it. After the allotted time, which in this case was about 30 minutes, I removed the ‘box’ from the burners and opened it up. The mackerel were a lovely golden colour and were cooked right through to the point of being overdone (will reduce cooking time by about 10 minutes next time). They tasted wonderful with that appealing smoky twang, although for my taste, they could have done with more salt, so perhaps brining would be a better option. This may also help to make the fish a bit drier, as I found these ones to be a bit wet, almost as if they had been smoked/steamed.

Anyway, for a first attempt, we were pretty pleased with the result and can’t wait to experiment with various wood chip and seasoning combinations to obtain different flavours. Next on the list will be smoked chicken, so watch this space.

Article is here : How to fillet a mackerel

I therefore publish said link to ‘creamuntilfluffy.co.uk‘, a site dedicated to the art of cookery, recipes and other kitcheny type things.

Please do drop in and have a look around, you’ll find some really, really tasty stuff there. Please feel free to leave a comment.

Ingredients

2 bass fillets (or any other firm white fish)
5 tblsp dark soy sauce
1 tblsp Madiera
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1 1/2 tsp grated fresh root ginger
4 spring onions, sliced into rounds
s+p
mild olive oil
boiling water (if necessary)

Method

Dry the fillets, place skin side up on a plate and scatter with milled salt and black pepper.
In a small bowl, combine the soy, sesame oil, ginger and spring onions.

Drizzle a little mild olive oil in a large frying pan and put on a medium-high heat. When oil is hot, place fillets in pan – skin side down.
Leave for a minute or so, then lift one end to check that the skin is colouring nicely.
Pour the contents of the bowl over the fillets – baste them if you’ve missed a bit.

Once the fillets have cooked about 1/3 of the way up, carefully turn the fillets over. Reduce the heat to low and cover the frying pan – loosely drape some foil if you haven’t got a big enough lid.
If, by chance, the sauce should start to catch (ask me how I know…), pour some boiling water in the pan and swirl it around to combine with the sauce.

Check for doneness, flipping over again if necessary- but use caution because you’re getting into broken fillet territory now – and once cooked to perfection, serve.
Scatter with the parsley that you picked from the garden and chopped finely and then found sitting on the chopping board when you took the empty plates back to the kitchen.
Failing that, put the parsley into a little bag and freeze it so you can forget to use it again another time.

Served with stir-fried wilting veg

spinach
pea sprouts
runner beans (already blanched)
peas (already blanched)

Heat a little oil and a knob of salted butter in a wok.
Chuck in the veg and season well with salt and black pepper. Keep moving it around until the leaves have wilted. Obviously, you can use any veg and/or salad leaves.

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Recipe taken from
creamuntilfluffy.co.uk

Ingredients:
4 tblsp sunflower oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 sprig fresh rosemary, leaves removed and finely chopped
1 kg (2.25 lb) squid, cleaned and sliced into rings, tentacles split into pairs
500ml fish stock (or cold water)
200g canned tomatoes, chopped
3 tblsp tomato puree
pinch ground cinnamon
pinch freshly grated nutmeg
pinch ground ginger
plenty of sea salt and black pepper
Thai fish sauce (optional)

Method:
Heat the oil and fry the onion and garlic until softened and golden.
Add the rosemary, then the squid and mix together, then cover with the water or stock.
Bring to the boil, then simmer for 45 mins.

Add the tomato puree, tomatoes, spices and salt and pepper.
Cover and simmer gently for a further 30 minutes, then remove lid and simmer faster for another 15 mins until the squid is very tender and the sauce has reduced and thickened slightly.
Check for seasoning, adding 2 or 3 drops of thai fish sauce if it needs the boost.

Serve in a bowl, either with plain risotto (made with fish stock), garlicky mash, fried new potatoes or a hunk of good crusty bread.

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Recipe taken from
creamuntilfluffy.co.uk