Smoked Mackerel With Gooseberry Sauce Food

SMOKED MACKEREL WITH GOOSEBERRY SAUCE

Steps:

• Place the mackerel fillets on the lettuce and garnish with lemon and tomato wedges.
• Finely chop the poached gooseberries (or puree them) and mix with the cream to make a gooseberry sauce.
• Serve with the mackerel fillets.

GRILLED MACKEREL WITH PICKLED GOOSEBERRY KETCHUP

Steps:

• First, pickle the gooseberries. Put the vinegar, sugar, sea salt, juniper berries, mustard seeds, peppercorns, bay leaf and 150ml water in a small pan and bring to the boil. Simmer until the sugar has dissolved, about 3 mins, then infuse for 10 mins. Put the gooseberries and cucumber ribbons in a dry, sterilised jar, add the bay leaf from the pan and pour over the pickling mixture and aromatics. Seal with a lid and allow to pickle for at least two hrs or preferably overnight.
• Lay the mackerel pieces on a plate, skin-side down, and sprinkle the flesh with the sea salt. Allow to come to room temperature while you finish making the ketchup. Heat the olive oil and fennel seeds, add the onion, apple, garlic and chilli, season and cook for 8-10 mins, stirring, until the onion is soft and aromatic.
• Drain the gooseberries and cucumber, reserving the pickling liquor. Set aside the cucumber and a handful of the gooseberries. Slice the rest of the gooseberries and add to the onion and apple mix, along with the brown sugar and 1 tbsp of the pickling juice. Stir until the gooseberries have broken down and the liquid has evaporated, about 10 mins. Taste for salt, and add a little more to balance the flavours if necessary. Blend using a stick blender or food processor to a smooth consistency, then leave to cool. Once cool, mix the ketchup through the yogurt.
• Heat grill to its highest heat. Submerge the mackerel pieces in the reserved pickling liquor, then put on a baking sheet or grill pan, skin-side up. Grill the mackerel for 2-4 mins until the fish is just cooked through - it should be just opaque rather than dry and flaking.
• Divide the ketchup between two plates and top with the reserved pickled cucumber and gooseberries. Put the mackerel pieces on top and garnish with dill.

STICKY GOOSEBERRY SAUCE FOR THE SOUL

Steps:

• Put all ingredients in a small saucepan and turn hotplate onto its highest heat.
• Use a fork or potato masher to squish down on gooseberries. Keep doing this occasionally until the mixture comes to the boil. (We do not want the gooseberries to be completely pulverised, but we do want to help release their flavour, and help the skins to cook down/soften).
• When the mixture has come to the boil, turn the hotplate down by half. Continue stirring occasionally so as to prevent burning.
• Keep it on this heat for 5 minutes, before turning down by half again. Leave it on this heat for 5 minutes, continuing to stir occasionally.
• Turn it down by half again, letting it gently simmer for an additional 10 minutes, stirring now and then to make sure it is cooking down appropriately. When the skins of the gooseberries appear translucent - similar to the appearance of the skins of glace cherries - and the liquid has reduced and appears to be sticky/coat the back of a spoon, take saucepan off the heat.
• Spoon mixture into a small, clean glass jar.
• Attach lid of jar, screwing it on tight. Carefully tip the jar upside down so the scorching hot jam creates a natural heat seal (effectively sterilizing top of jar/lid).
• Allow to cool for 20 mins, then open jar and spoon compote over dessert of your choice.
• Re-seal jar and refrigerate for future use.