Cooking Seafood With Summer Vegetables - Mackerel And Apple

The refreshing taste of summer will be yours with a dish of grilled Mackerel fillets with sliced and mashed apples. With a small amount of preparation in the kitchen, you can serve the dish in your garden or from the BBQ in your city apartment.

You will need one Mackerel around 450 g in size per person. Fillet the fish with emphasis on removing the fine pin bones. Very gently make slight incisions in the skin side of the fish, no more than just skin deep. This will speed the cooking time and stop the fillet curling when grilled.

Select a type of apple that is quite sharp and preferably green. The purpose is to produce a sharp accompaniment to balance the oily nature of the Mackerel, so do not add sugar. If you have a sweet tooth adjust accordingly. Treat the apple will need in two ways, some peeled and seeded for the mash, and some unpeeled slices for char grilling. For each serving you will need 150 ml of diced apple and 5 slices of unpeeled apple.

Add the chunks of apple to a pan with a knob of unsalted butter, cover with a lid and cook until soft, then blend and keep warm. Lightly coat the slices of apple with vegetable oil and place on the griddle, after a few seconds turn through 45 degrees to give a diamond effect, then turn over and repeat the process, and keep warm. The apple slices should still be very crisp. Now place the Mackerel fillets on the char grill or under an eye level grill, turning once until cooked. Check that they are 62 degrees Celsius with a digital thermometer.

In the centre of the plate place the mash surrounded by overlapping slices of apple and topped with the cooked Mackerel fillets. Serve with a simple salad.

Comments:- the level of flavouring, such as sugar, will always be up to personal taste. But if you have a sweet tooth try to keep the level of sugar as low as possible, not only to reduce the calorie content but mainly so that the natural flavours of the fish and fruit are prevalent. If need be try flavouring at the table with freshly squeezed orange or even lemon juice. The dish can also be served with other tangy fruits such as gooseberries. The Mackerel can be replaced with other medium whole fish, such as Herring, Trout or Sardines, and if you decide you can use the whole gutted fish.

About the author:- Henry Lord is a fanatical enthusiast and lover of all things seafood. He has been a professional chef for nearly twenty five years. The website http://www.cookingseafoodathome.com is written by him. It provides lots of tips on all aspects to helping you put a great seafood meal in front of your family or friends. Additionally if you visit the website now and enter your name and email address, you will receive for FREE the e Booklet on "Home Curing Of Fish". Other FREE e Booklets will follow each month.