Hot Smoked Mackerel, Paprika Lemon & Caper Berries by Ruaridh Skinner at Under The Stairs in Edinburgh
Under The Stairs shabby chic surroundings nurture creative, unusual drinks and food with no culinary boundaries or trends – using ingredient which are inspiring and in season.
Chef Ruairidh Skinner’s Mediterranean dish works well both as a lunch or dinner, perfectly matched with mixed leaves & radish salad and/or potato salad.
Ingredients: (serves 2)
For the brine:
120g sea salt
100g soft brown sugar
6 cloves of garlic
15 peppercorns (bruised)
3 tsps smoked paprika
3 tsps sweet paprika
6 sprigs of thyme
2 bay leaves
2 tsps. coriander seeds
2 tsps. mustard seeds
2 tsps. fennel seeds
zest of 2 lemons
1 litre of water
For the fish:
2 whole mackerel cleaned & gutted
1 tbsp cold pressed rapeseed oil
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp sweet paprika
sea salt
1⁄2 tsp ground coriander
2 tsp ground black pepper
2 tsp cracked black pepper
4 sprigs of thyme
Handful of oak sawdust
Method:
- For the brine put all ingredients into a saucepan, bring to the boil to dissolve sugar & salt, then leave to cool completely.
- To prepare the fish score each side of the fish 6 times & put the mackerel in a plastic container along with the brine so it is completely immersed. Leave for 2-3 hours. After this, remove & give the mackerel a quick rinse with cold water & pat dry, then leave uncovered in the fridge for a further 2 hours.
- Mix the oil, paprika, pepper, salt, & coriander together, rub all over & inside the fish, return to the fridge in a plastic tub. After 2 hours, remove from the fridge, add the thyme & a lemon slice to each fish.
- Using a smoking tray or a wok with a wire rack inside, place the oak sawdust on the bottom, place your fish on the rack allowing enough space for the fish to circulate. Place a tight fitting lid or cover with tinfoil so it is air tight.
- Place on a medium heat until smoke appears then reduce to a low heat & smoke for 15 minutes. Check fish is cooked through, if not, return to smoke until cooked properly. Leave in tray/wok for a further 15 minutes off the heat.
Serve warm with lemon, watercress, caper berries & drizzle with rapeseed oil.
In association with Taste Communications.
www.tastecommunications.co.uk
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article