VANESSA'S WAY . . . LIGHT SMOKED MACKEREL AND APPLE MOUSSE WITH MELBA TOAST
My favourite way to eat mackerel is when we catch them off the coast of Connemara in July. We either smoke them or pan fry them on a camping stove as a snack.
During the winter, I buy smoked mackerel fillets for this mackerel mousse which freezes well.
It’s so light and airy, it can either be served in a mould as in this recipe or make it in a larger bowl to serve casually as a canapé on toasted ciabatta or brown bread.
GARY’S WAY . . . BLOW TORCHED MACKEREL WITH PICKLED COURGETTE AND HORSERADISH CREAM
Some of the best years of my life were spent in my aunt Kathleen’s house in Murlog, Downings, Co Donegal. I spent time there as first a pot-washer and then a commis chef in the Rosapenna Hotel and Golf Resort. The hotel was at one end of the beach, with her house towering above the other end. Heaven.
My cousins, Cathal and Alan and I, along with their dad Charlie, Daddy mór, Seán, Jack, Emmet and others, would often go fishing throughout the summer and into autumn.
There is a spot out the Atlantic Drive called An tSean leac. Basically it’s a massive rock slightly detached from the mainland. On one occasion I remember filling a bucket of mackerel there with Charlie and the boys, but next thing you know Daddy mór (Charlie’s daddy) is running towards us young boys and throwing us to the ground and lobbing lead belts on top of us. I soon realised what it was all for as this huge frothy wave curled up over An tSean leac and crashed over us. Everyone managed to stay on.
The fish were gone but we weren’t long in refilling the buckets. An extreme way to catch dinner.
The pickle in this recipe needs to made ahead of time, but it’s worth the wait.
