Joe Simmonds’ mackerel with feta, cucumber, apple and shallot salad, and wasabi mayonnaise

By Joe Simmonds, The Beach at Bude.

Download recipe.

Ingredients

  • 2 mackerel fillets
  • 30g feta cheese
  • Half an apple
  • Quarter of a cucumber
  • 2 shallots
  • 100ml white wine vinegar
  • 100ml of water
  • 50g caster sugar
  • 50ml cassis
  • 4 taplespoons mayonnaise
  • 4 teaspoons wasabi paste
  • 1 lime zest and juice
  • A small amount of cress or pea shoots to serve
  • Salt and pepper
  • A splash of cooking oil

Method

  1. Make a pickling liquor by heating the white wine vinegar, water, sugar, and cassis in a saucepan. Bring to the boil.

  2. Take the pickling off the heat. Slice the shallots into half cm rings and place in the liquor.

  3. Next, season the mackerel (it is best to do this five minutes before cooking). Add a splash of oil to a frying pan and place on a low heat to warm up.

  4. Dice the apple neatly and place in a bowl. Squeeze lime juice from half the lime over the apple. Dice the feta and add to the bowl.

  5. Peel the cucumber and dice (or, if you have a mellon baller nake 10 balls of cucumber). Add to the bowl and season with salt.

  6. Place the mackerel skin down in the pan and hold down for ten seconds so it doesn't curl.

  7. While the mackerel is cooking, add the wasabi paste to the mayonnaise with a squeeze of lime juice.

  8. Go back to the mackerel. In total this should be cooked for 4-5 minutes on the skin side only, on a medium heat.

  9. While the mackerel is finishing off, start assembling the ingredients on the plate with a swipe of the wasabi mayonnaise. Dot apple, cucumber and feta around the plate. Take the shallot rings out of the liquor and lean a few of them against the diced salad.

  10. When the mackerel is 90% cooked, flip over and take off the heat. Place on your salad. Garnish with a lime zest, a pinch of pepper and cress or pea shoots.