Barbecue Mackerel Salad

If you ever go to the coast you must try mackerel fishing. We go to Beer in Devon where little boats run throughout the day taking passengers out fishing for mackerel. There is nothing tastier than fresh caught mackerel. I like to slice the fillet off, dust it in seasoned flour and fry quickly in butter or oil. When it is that fresh mackerel is hard to beat! In this recipe though we barbecued the mackerel and did a warm salad of stuff we had in the fridge.

Ingredients:

Fresh mackerel gutted (hopefully caught by your own fair hands)
Bay leaves
Lemon slices
Hard boiled eggs (here I have quails eggs)
Asparagus tips
Sugar snap peas
Peas
Mushrooms
Black olives halved
Capers

For the dressing:
Just mix together the following in whatever quantities suit your taste, I tend to go heavier on the vinegar and mustard:

White wine vinegar
Wholegrain mustard
Rapeseed or olive oil
Honey

Method:

1. Light the BBQ and have a beer.
2. When the coals are almost ready on a gas ring bring to the boil a pan of water and drop in the green veg for about 2 minutes.
3. Remove the veg and plunge into icy cold water to cool (this helps keep its greenness and stops it cooking).
4. Season the mackerel inside and out with salt and pepper and put lemon slices inside it. Smear them with a little oil.
5. Place the mackerel on the BBQ for about 2.5 minutes each side. It's done when the flesh is opaque but when its this fresh you can eat it raw so don't worry.
6. Heat some butter or good oil in a frying pan and sauté the mushrooms, when they're almost done add the green veg to warm through.
7. While the mushrooms are cooking pick the flesh from the mackerel.
8. Plate up and finish off with the olives, capers and dressing.