Mackerel Fillets Baked in Cider
Boned mackerel fillets baked in cider with some turnip, onion, apple, a few herbs and spices and some seasoning. And topped with potato dotted with butter. Suprisingly good.
I’ve changed just a couple of small things in this one. I’ve left out the courgette, topped it with very thinly sliced potato, used fresh coriander rather than ground and added more Cayenne pepper.
I forgot to specify boned mackerel fillets at the fish counter so … I had to spend a good half hour getting rid of the bones. The halved fillets were in a bit of a state after that. I wasn’t sure if they would fall apart when baking so I skewered them in with cocktail sticks but I took the sticks out of a couple of them just to check and they did hold their shape. So you’ll see one of the rolls skewered in a photo down there but I’m not going to put that in recipe because it doesn’t seem to be necessary.
The potato is nice addition, sliced thinly and dotted with butter it makes for a soft sort of crust. I should have sliced the turnip more thinly – they had a little bite to them. I’d say they shouldn’t be any thicker than a 1/4 cm. Also, slice the onions as thinly as possible.
I don’t think I made this since the first time I posted it. And I didn’t think it would be as good as it is – this is actually very nice. But unless I can get boned mackerel fillets it’s a bit too much work. Hours later and I still smell of fish.
No wonder I’ve so many tinned – rather than fresh – fish recipes.
But this is really good.
Of course it’s good it’s based on a recipe from Jocasta Innes’ The Pauper’s Cookbook. I’d forgotten – sorry. In that recipe she cooks herring fillets this way. There isn’t any turnip, just all potato and there isn’t any Cajun spice mix or Cayenne pepper or corriander. I’d say it’s lovely – probably better than this which is suprisingly good – the spice is a nice addition though.
Ingredients
- 2 good-sized mackerel fillets, boned and halved lengthwise
- salt
- 1 heaped tablespoon mustard powder, blended with 1 tablespoon of water
- 2 medium-sized onions, sliced thinly
- 2 granny smith apples, sliced
- 1/2 medium-sized turnip/swede/rutabaga, sliced thinly
- Cajun spice mix
- Cayenne pepper
- black pepper
- some fresh coriander, chopped
- 250ml cider
- 2 medium sized potatoes, sliced very thinly
- butter
Instructions
- Turn the oven on to 200 C and generously grease, with butter, an oven dish that is deep enough to hold the rolled up fish.
- Take a fifth of the sliced onion and sliced apple and mince them in the blender.
- Put the halved mackerel fillets skin-side down on a plate. With each halved fillet, sprinkle the flesh well with salt, then spread on some mustard. take a quarter of the minced onion and apple spread this along the flesh, pat it down and then roll up the piece of fish, skin side out.
- Add half the turnip, onion and apple to the greased baking dish, sprinkle over some salt and some Cajun spice mix. Place the mackerel rolls in the baking dish, add in the rest of the turnip, onion and apple, sprinkle over a little more salt, pepper, Cajun spice mix and sprinkle over some Cayenne pepper. Pour in the cider and scatter over the chopped coriander. Line the top of the dish, as best you can, with the very thinly sliced potato, dot generously with butter.
- Cover the dish with foil and bake at 200 C for 30 minutes. Then take off the foil and bake for another 30 minutes. Take out and let rest for 10 minutes before serving. Enjoy!
