Salt-Grilled Mackerel with Fried Shallots & Mentaiko on Long-stemmed Broccoli, Rocket & Baby Red Chards
Sloth is one of the seven deadly sins and should be unthinkable within the walls of a kitchen.
I must apologize firstly, for not posting at all; second, for not posting anything exciting; lastly, for being so damn boring and lazy! Life seems to be getting a little in the way, what with all the applications I have to prepare for, three massive essays and the random bursts of inspiration that hit me, which means having to go off somewhere with my laptop (nope, not to watch porn) to let it rip (I mean writing, chucking, rewriting) for hours. I can’t say that the future posts will be brilliant but I promise to post, in all honesty, quick lunch or sugar fixes that I prepare when I find time from my essays. It is partly true that I munch on junk now and again when I’m writing, or sometimes, forget to eat at all in the ‘heat of the moment’. But when I am ready and able to whip up something worthy of putting on a plate, I promise to photograph it and blog it! I’ve been awfully sad to have been apart from The Sugar Bar for such a long while now. It’s unforgivable.
Instead of resorting to lazy food, I hope to come up with clever quick dishes that are tasty, good to look at and not requiring ridiculous amounts of effort and time. Also, I’m feeling Christmas. The tree is arriving in a few days. And I’m thinking, Christmas cookies anyone?
So. Before I bugger off back to this monster of a thesis, let me just say that this recipe is pretty straightforward. Salt the mackerel for a few hours before grilling. Come back to it later and chuck it under the grill whilst you prepare the vegetables. It’s so quick, I can honestly say it’s a good student meal and healthy too! And if you’re in a bad way needing a salt-fix, this is great. Just remember, you gotta leave it to salt for a while or you ain’t gonna get any taste on the mackerel.
Wondering about servings? Split the mackerel down the bone and then half both portions. 1 mackerel fish should then serve up about 4 small portions, unless you’re hungry for more. The following recipe is good for 1.
Salt-Grilled Mackerel with Fried Shallots & Mentaiko on Long-stemmed Broccoli, Rocket & Baby Red Chards
Ingredients
- 1/4 of a mackerel fish
1 tbs crushed sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
1 shallot, sliced
1 tbs mentaiko of choice
2 tsp salted butter
handful of long-stemmed broccoli
handful of favourite salad leaves
black & white sesame seeds, for garnishing
Wash the mackerel and pat dry with a paper towel. Rub salt all over the fish and leave for about an hour.
Preheat grill to about 185d Celsius.
Season fish with pepper. Place mackerel on a grill tray under the grill for about 5 minutes or until just beginning to crisp up and brown.
In a frying pan with hot oil, fry the shallots till golden brown. Cook the broccoli in boiling water until al dente and then toss in butter. Layer out on a plate the salad leaves and broccoli. Then place fish on top and serve with mentaiko of choice. Finally, garnish with fried shallots and sesame seeds.
December 16th, 2008 at 8:56 am
Hi sweetie. You took the words outta my mouth with the first line of your second paragraph. If I don’t get a chance to pop by soon, have a fab Xmas!
xx Dee
p/s
I go weak for Mentaiko!
December 16th, 2008 at 10:36 am
Nice to see you again
Oboy. I’m going to be part of the busy world again in 6 months, so I need to rack up as many busy meals as I can! I’d probably sub another small fish for mackerel, though 
December 16th, 2008 at 4:51 pm
dee: it’s been a long while! thank you. you’re so sweet. hope you have a really awesome christmas too, and a new year’s
take care
manggy: it kinda sucks, but it’s a good busy i suppose. all the best manggy! go for it. i really wanted mackerel and it was still within my student budget – thank goodness.
xx
December 17th, 2008 at 2:08 am
Very creative! I never would have thought to use mentaiko like this. Good luck with your thesis:-)
December 17th, 2008 at 2:15 am
Holy mackerel!!!! That looks wonderful!
Dont feel bad about not posting! Its the holidays..we all fall behind!!!
December 17th, 2008 at 10:13 am
marc: hey thanks! i quite like eating mentaiko just straight out of the jar or on a cracker. is that strange or what? so i tried it on grilled fish and it was actually surprisingly good! i’d definitely do it again.
leslie: you made me laugh there. awww. i know..the holidays = mince pies, fruitcake, lots of cheese, wine and chocolates. which means i’m too busy eating to post. LOL. actually i’m getting a little stressed out as everyone around seems to be wanting to diet as Christmas gets closer. it’s insane.
xx
December 17th, 2008 at 3:23 pm
One busy student here…Diva sweetheart…this is inspiring! How soon a dish that looks this GOOD can ‘happen’ is astounding! And yes, I crave the salt-fix often…so what if I’m not a busy student! All the best for the thesis & have a really warm & joyous Xmas! Love
December 17th, 2008 at 4:04 pm
Lovely girl, you cannot call yourself a sloth while at the same time writing your THESIS-type thingys. Just typing that word “thesis” gave me a 5-star migraine.
That Mackeral looks incredible, per usual. Great pics, per usual. You uber-talent, you.
Give yourself a break now and then, and know that we’ll all be waiting for you.
December 18th, 2008 at 12:58 am
hey, if i was a blogger when i was in grad school i wouldn’t have blogged at all. that’s for sure! who cares if you haven’t blogged in awhile…this meal makes up for it! looks amazing.
December 18th, 2008 at 2:46 am
deeba: cheers! i will do my best and merry christmas to you too!!
also..thought i’d let you know i’ve been looking through your cookie recipes for christmas cookie ideas 
ann: you’re so sweet ann!! i love you!
We Are Never Full: lol. I think blogging is one of the things that help me get away from the stress of it all and indeed, i shouldn’t let blogging become a stress either. Thanks for reminding me about that
xx