The Mackerel’s Happy Accident
I was having one of those days where the simplest things went wrong. The parchment paper wouldn’t tear. My fancy egg container didn’t fare well in the dishwasher. I couldn’t open anything. The gas tank was left to me empty and I had food to accomplish. Aren’t kids great? I knicked my finger. For the second time. In the same place as the last time.
Friday night rolls around and I had some mackerel I got on sale. I’ve never had mackerel outside of sashimi so I rolled the dice. I consulted The Googles and Food & Wine had a recipe posted for grilled mackerel with this Asian~y sauce and I intended to follow it to the letter. Here’s the original recipe :
https://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/grilled-mackerel-garlic-dipping-sauce
Well that didn’t happen. Ooopsie! I somehow didn’t incorporate the second step in their recipe. Instead, I put all the ingredients together (with some changes, obviously because it’s me…hello?!) and basted the fish with it inside and out. There was no turning back. I had exactly one cup of brown basmati rice. Perfect! I cooked it in chicken stock and Hubs lit the grill.
It was fantastic. I’m now officially adding mackerel to my regular…albeit small…rotation of fish at home. We love seafood, but we are very careful about how much of it we eat, where it comes from, and what kind of fish it is. Hubs and I are very conscientious of the precariousness of global fish stocks and the pitfalls of eating farmed fish both for our health and the health of the environment. Our mackerel was wild caught in the Atlantic using sustainable fishing practices.
Worldwatch.Org lists mackerel as number one on it’s sustainability list. You can read about it here:
http://www.worldwatch.org/five-fish-are-sustainable-and-almost-guilt-free
Grilled Mackerel
Ingredients
- 2 whole mackerel cleaned
- 12 green onions sliced small
- 1 large elephant garlic minced
- 3 jalapenos deseeded and minced
- 1 handful cilantro minced
- Juice of one lime
- 3 tablespoons Thai fish sauce
- 2 tablespoons light brown sugar
- Basil leaves
- Kosher salt to taste
- Fine ground black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Combine all the ingredients together in a bowl and whisk together. Set aside and let rest, covered, on the counter for about an hour. Place the fish on foil.
- Meanwhile, light the charcoal and get the coals hot. When the coals are ready, spoon some of the mixture into the cavity of the fish and more over the top.
- Place the fish with the foil on the grill offset from the coals, but not the cooler outer edges. Cover and cook for 15 minutes. Turn the fish over and spoon over more of the mixture, cover and cook for another 10 to 15 minutes.
- Remove the fish from the grill, redress with the remaining sauce mixture and let it rest for 5 to 10 minutes.
- I served it over brown rice and spooned the remaining sauce over the fish and around the rice. Garnish with basil. Be careful of the pinbones!
