This is a beautiful, elegant salad which balances flavours and textures perfectly. Crispy pan-fired mackerel fillets, contrast wonderfully against the sweetness of the pickled rhubarb, which also cuts through the oiliness of the fish. Crisp radicchio, mangetout and radish are dressed with an anchovy salad dressing which works equally brilliantly on a Nicoise style salad.
This recipe uses pickled rhubarb which you will need to have prepped in advance. You can find the recipe for pickled rhubarb here.
If you can’t find radicchio, substitute with equal amounts of Belgian endive, Curly endive, arugula or watercress. Add little boiled new potatoes if you want to make it a little more filling by adding some carbs.
Mackerel & Pickled Rhubarb Salad
Course: LunchDifficulty: Easy2
servings15
minutes10
minutesAn elegant salad which balances flavours and textures perfectly. Crispy pan-fired mackerel fillets, contrast wonderfully against the sweetness of the pickled rhubarb, which also cuts through the oiliness of the fish.
Ingredients
- Anchovy Salad Dressing
6 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp rhubarb pickling vinegar from the jar of pickled rhubarb (or red wine vinegar)
1 tsp dijon mustard
1 clove garlic, pressed
2 anchovy fillets, chopped finely or smashed with the back of a knife
- Mackerel
4 mackerel fillets
olive oil, for pan-frying
sea salt & pepper, to season
- Salad
100 g mangetout
200 g pickled rhubarb (see pickled rhubarb recipe)
1 medium-sized raddichio, washed and trimmed (or appropriate alternative salad leaf)
handful radish, washed and cut in half
Directions
- Salad Dressing
- To make the salad dressing, combine all the ingredients in a covered jar and shake well. Put aside to use a little later.
- Mackerel
- To cook the fish, season the fillets with salt and pepper. Heat some olive oil in a non-stick pan and add the fillets skin-side down, pressing down evenly for 30 seconds with a spatula to ensure even colouring
- Leave to cook on this side for 2-3 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fillets. Turn the fish over and remove from the heat, allowing the other side to cook on the residual heat of the pan.
- Assembling salad
- Quickly blanch the mangetout in salted, boiling water for 10 seconds. Drain and dunk in cold, preferably iced water. Drain and pat dry
- Find a large plate and arrange the radicchio leaves, drained mangetout, radish and pickled rhubarb. Flake the cooked mackerel on top then drizzle over the salad dressing. You might need to shake the jar again to incorporate the dressing.
- Serve immediately. Feeds 4 people as a starter or 2 as a main.
