Smoked Mackerel Salad

Smoked mackerel is a truly delicious eating fish. It is also very nutritious and the fact that it is bought ready to eat is ideal when the time available for preparing dinner any night is short. This is a very simple serving suggestion for smoked mackerel as part of a salad and you can find more ideas along similar lines here: Different Ways to Serve Smoked Mackerel

Ingredients per Serving

2 smoked mackerel fillets
2 handfuls of mixed salad leaves
Baby new potatoes, quantity as desired
1 egg
3 cherry tomatoes
3 pitted black olives
1/2 oz butter
1 tsp freshly chopped mint leaves
Salt

Method

Wash the new potatoes but don't peel them and add them to a pot of slightly salted cold water. Bring the water to a boil and reduce the heat to simmer for twenty-five minutes.

Put the egg in to a separate pot and add enough cold water to comfortably cover it. Bring the water to a boil and reduce to simmer for seven minutes. Take the pot to the sink and run cold water in it for twenty to thirty seconds, until the egg is cool enough to handle. Crack the shell all around by tapping the egg on a hard surface. Peel the shell away under running cold water and submerge the egg in a bowl of cold water to cool while the potatoes finish cooking.

The salad leaves used in this dish were bought from my local supermarket where they were labelled as an Italian style salad. They are a mixture of lollo rosso, radicchio and rocket (arugula). You can use any combination of salad leaves you desire, even if that just be simple lettuce leaves. Lay the leaves on half of the serving plate. Half the tomatoes and pitted olives and arrange on top of the salad leaves.

When the potatoes are ready, drain them through a colander and return them to the empty pot. Add the butter and the chopped mint leaves. Swirl the potatoes around gently to coat them evenly in the mint and butter before adding them to the plate. Take the egg from the water and pat it dry with kitchen paper. Quarter it lengthwise and add the quarters to the plate.

The skin should peel very easily away from the smoked mackerel fillets. It is best to do this before placing them across the salad and serving your meal.

Note that if you do have to buy a vacuum pack of smoked mackerel fillets which contains more fillets than you are using at the time, transfer the excess to a plastic dish with a lid and they will store in your refriegerator for a couple of days.