Curry Spiced Mackerel Fillet on Turmeric and Garlic Rice

Curry spiced mackerel fillet is pan fried and served on a bed of turmeric, garlic and coriander rice

I've been doing a lot more fishing this year than I have done in a great many years. Although my fortunes have been varied, at least I have had a few trips where the mackerel (if not always anything else) have been caught aplenty. I was on just one such trip yesterday, to St Catherines on Loch Fyne, from where I returned with a good bag of mackerel for the pot. As mackerel is like most types of fish in that it does not freeze well, I have been eating little but mackerel for the past couple of days, experimenting as I go with the huge number of potential mackerel recipes it is possible to come up with if you give it but a little thought. I hope you like this idea and give it a try if you have access to fresh mackerel.

Rice should always be washed before it is cooked

Ingredients per Person

3oz basmati rice
1 tsp ground turmeric
Sea salt
1 tbsp plain/all purpose flour
1 tsp medium curry powder
1 large mackerel side fillet, boned but not skinned
Vegetable oil for frying
1 tbsp freshly chopped coriander leaf/cilantro (plus extra to garnish)
1 clove of garlic

Turmeric and salt are added to the uncooked rice

Directions

Begin by washing the rice in a sieve under running cold water. Add it to a pot with the turmeric and some salt. Pour enough boiling water in to the pot to comfortably cover the rice, bring back to a simmer and leave to cook for ten minutes.

Curry powder and salt are added to the flour for dusting the mackerel

Put the flour and curry powder on a large plate, season with salt and gently shake to combine. Put the oil in to a frying pan and bring up to a moderate to high heat.

Mackerel is patted in the curry powder and flour on its skin side only

Pat the mackerel on its skin side only in the curried flour before laying it skin side down in the hot pan. Season the flesh side with salt and a little more curry powder and leave it to fry for two or three minutes while you drain and finishing preparing the rice.

Pan frying the curry spiced mackerel fillet

Drain the rice at your sink through a sieve and return it to the empty pot. Add the chopped coriander, peel the garlic clove and grate it in to the pot. Stir carefully to combine before laying the rice as a bed for the mackerel in the bottom of your serving plate.

Coriander (cilantro) and garlic are added to the drained rice

Turmeric and garlic rice bed

When you can see the mackerel is cooked most of the way through, reduce the heat under the pan to as low as possible before turning the fillet on to its flesh side. Half a minute or so will allow it to complete cooking. It may then be lifted on to the rice bed with a spatula and garnished with the remaining coriander prior to service.

Curry spiced mackerel fillet is laid on bed of turmeric and garlic rice

Gammon Steak with Baked Potato and Pineapple, Basil and Garlic Soured Cream

When I decided over the weekend to have a gammon steak one night, I only briefly had to consider what I would like to accompany it. I had been working on healthy baked potato recipes, so a baked potato it would be. As I was buying pineapple anyway to accompany the gammon steak, the rest - as they say - is history.

Ingredients

1 gammon steak
1 large baking potato
2 rings of pineapple (if using canned, ensure that they are in pineapple juice)
1 small cherry tomato
1 tbsp low fat soured cream
1 clove of garlic (crushed)
2 large basil leaves (finely chopped or torn)
2 small basil leaves (for garnish)

Method

As a great many will know from bitter experience, one of the frequent drawbacks when baking a potato is that either the core remains hard when the remainder is ready or the skin is dry and wrinkled when the potato has been cooked all the way through. I have a method for baking potatoes which eliminates both these concerns.

The oven should first of all be put on to preheat to 400F/200C/Gas Mark 6. The potato should then be washed and dried. Prick the potato a few times with a fork. A long metal skewer should then be carefully inserted through the centre of the potato lengthwise (as shown) and the potato loosely wrapped and sealed in aluminium foil. Place the foil package on a baking tray and in to the oven for one hour and fifteen minutes. Essentially, the heat will be conducted along the metal skewer and in to the centre of the potato, ensuring even cooking.

When the potato is in the oven, it is time to prepare the filling. Simply mix the soured cream, garlic, basil and one of the pineapple rings (finely chopped) together in a small bowl. Cover with clingfilm and refrigerate until required.

When the baked potato is done, remove the tray from the oven with protective gloves and (still wearing the gloves!) gently squeeze and massage the potato to fluff up the centre. Sit it back on the tray, still wrapped in the foil, and set it aside while you grill your gammon steak.

The fat or rind should be left on the steak while you cook it but can be removed later. Grill under a medium to hot grill for about seven to eight minutes. Ensure the steak is fully cooked then serve as shown in the photograph at the top of this article.

Diced Turkey and Vegetable Stir Fry

Normally when we are making a stir fry incorporating poultry we will do so using chicken or perhaps even duck. This recipe actually was born when I was wondering around my local supermarket one night, simply checking what was available and seeking inspiration. I spotted diced turkey thigh on special offer and thought to myself, "What if...?"

A lot of recipes come to me in this fashion so all I subsequently had to do was visit the vegetable aisle and see what caught my eye to accompany the diced turkey in my stir fry. I hope very much that you like the sound and the look of what I came up with and that you will try this incredibly quick and simple dish for yourself.

I promise you: it tastes even better than it sounds or looks!

Ingredients

1/2lb diced turkey thigh
1 red bell pepper (de-seeded and roughly chopped)
2 large closed cup mushrooms (quartered)
2 handfuls of beansprouts
2 cloves of garlic (very finely chopped)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Sunflower oil for stir frying

Method

Ensure that all your ingredients are prepared as described above and close at hand. When you begin cooking, you will not have time to chop or even fetch any of the items listed.

Put your wok on the highest heat possible until it is smoking hot. Add approximately one tablespoon of sunflower oil and bring up to a maximum heat.

Add the diced turkey and stir fry for a minute or two until it is completely sealed before adding the bell pepper. After another thirty seconds or so, add the mushrooms, the garlic and the beansprouts. Stir fry for about another minute until everything is cooked and heated through.

Season to taste and serve either as is or perhaps on a bed of basmati rice.