James Martin, head chef at Philleigh Way, loves Cornish Mackerel at this time of year.

Prepared simply and served with a beetroot, apple, caper and dill salsa, it’s perfect for warm summer evenings. You could even take a fishing trip and catch the mackerel yourself!

Recipe (serves 4 as a statrter or 2 as a main)

Ingredients

• 2 whole mackerel (filleted and pin boned)
• 2 heads of beetroot boiled until tender (peeled and finely diced)
• 2 apples (eaters) such as cox (finely diced)
• 3 spring onions (finely sliced)
• 20 capers (roughly chopped)
• Pea shoots (to garnish)
• 3 nice sprigs of dill or fennel sprouts (very roughly chopped or picked)
• Rapeseed oil (preferably Cornish)
• Ground pepper and Cornish sea salt
• Squeeze of lime juice

Method

• Place large griddle pan on a high heat.
• Mix all ingredients, except mackerel, in a bowl and bind with a generous splash of rapeseed oil. Leave at room temperature to infuse for an hour.
• Coat mackerel fillets in rapeseed oil and season with the salt and pepper.
• When the pan is smoking lay each fillet down, skin side first, and cook for roughly 2 minutes or until the skin is crispy and chard.
• Flip the fillets over and cook for a further 2 minutes.
• Divide the salsa and mackerel between 2/4 plates and serve with toasted sour dough bread, a splash of rapeseed oil and garnish with pea shoots.

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