A Recipe from Rebecca: Grilled Mackerel with Green Olive, Celery and Raisin Salsa | Canalside Community Food

This salty, sweet and crunchy salsa pairs perfectly with the rich, oily mackerel. The Ottolenghi team urge you to use ‘good quality’ olives and ‘plump’ raisins. This dish works well alongside another Ottolenghi dish: quinoa and red Camargue rice salad with orange and pistachios:

Grilled Mackerel with Green Olive, Celery and Raisin Salsa

Serves 4

Ingredients

For the Salsa

125g celery stalks, thinly sliced
60g green olives, pitted and thinly sliced
3 tablespoons capers, rinsed
70g raisins
1½ teaspoons sherry vinegar
60ml olive oil
3 tablespoons runny honey
15g parsley, roughly chopped
Salt and pepper, to taste (if necessary)

For the Fish

2 tablespoons olive oil
4 mackerel fillets
Salt and pepper

Method

For the Salsa: Stir together the salsa ingredients aside from the salt and pepper, and leave to sit for at least 15 minutes. Longer is fine. Taste the result: it should be sweet, sour and salty. Add salt or pepper if you think it necessary.

For the Fish: Heat a frying pan over medium-high heat and add the olive oil. When it is hot add the mackerel fillets, skin side down. Leave them alone for 2 minutes: resist the urge to move them about in the pan. By this point the flesh on the side facing up should begin to cook. Carefully flip the fish over and cook for another 1 to 2 minutes more, or until it is just cooked. Remove the pan from the heat.

To serve, place the fish on a serving platter and top with spoonfuls of salsa.

Recipe adapted from Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi, Ottolenghi The Cookbook (2008).