There are so many sauces and salads that will be good with the crisp cooked cakes.
Ingredients
Mackerel is, without doubt, one of my favourite fish and I will eat it almost any way it is prepared. My only caveat in the case of this wonderful fish is that it is really fresh. The fresh fish will be firm and shining in appearance with the eyes looking clear and the gills pink and pert.
The firm texture of the mackerel is ideal for these cakes and makes cooking of them rather easy as they hold their shape perfectly in the pan. The ginger and green chilli are lovely with the meaty flavour of the fish as they freshen up the flavour. The cous-cous coating gives a lovely crunch to the outsides of the cakes and allows you to form them into very perfect shapes.
The suggested spiced tomato oil is really perfect as tomatoes and mackerel are a wonderful match. I might even serve a plain mayonnaise as well as the oil. The spices in the tomato oil will compliment the chilli and ginger really well. The aubergine and ginger relish is another obvious match as is the Mexican courgette salad. A salad of seasonal leaves will always be pleasing.
Serves 4
- 500g of fillets of mackerel
- 2 teaspoons of finely chopped green chilli
- 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed to a paste
- 2 teaspoons of finely grated fresh ginger
- 1 tablespoon of chopped coriander leaves
- Zest of lemon
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 10g butter
- Cous-cous
Method
- Cut 250g of the mackerel into 1 cm pieces. Place the remaining 250g in a food processor and using the pulse button, render it to a coarse puree. This takes only a matter of seconds.
- Mix the diced and pureed mackerel in a bowl with the chilli, garlic, ginger, coriander and lemon and season with salt and pepper.
- Fry a tiny piece of the mixture in a pan until cooked and taste to check the seasoning. Shape the mixture into 4 round neat cakes with straight sides and flat on top and bottom.
- Roll in the cous-cous to coat top, bottom and sides. The cakes can be refrigerated until later if necessary.
- Heat the oil and butter in a small pan until foaming and add the cakes. Reduce the heat somewhat and cook on both sides until golden in colour and firm to the touch.
- Serve the cakes on hot plates with Spiced Tomato Oil.
