Sometimes, the most simple method of cooking mackerel is the most delicious – certainly the quickest and easiest. This is a pretty standard lunch for us when the hunter gatherer has brought home a fish or several – simple, oozing with goodness and so very low in fat, yet perfectly delicious.

Put a little oil (a couple of tablespoons or so – no need to measure) into your frying pan and add a couple of strips of lemon zest and two cloves of garlic that you halved. Heat the oil enough to sizzle them a little, then turn the heat off and let it sit for a few minutes.

Pat your mackerel fillets dry and cut a few slashes at an angle across the skin. This stops the skin from taking the flesh with it as it contracts in the heat. Most peculiar to watch if you forget to do it, the fillet rolls itself inside out, which is amusing, but invariably results in overcooked edges and less than browned skin.

Season the fillets with some salt and black pepper, then put the pan back on the heat again – a medium high heat; we’re not after flash frying it – and get the oil hot.

Remove the lemon from the oil (it’ll burn quickly), but leave the garlic in there, unless they catch too. Lay the fillets skin side down and watch the transition from pink to opaque white flesh.

Once they are opaque 1/2 to 3/4 of the way up the fillet, a matter of 2 or 3 minutes, turn them over

and give them another 1-2 minutes on the flesh side

Oh, yum!

If you’re unsure as to whether it’s cooked, do the flake test. Put your tongs or fish slice under the fillet and lift it gently in the middle – if the flesh starts to move apart in a flake, then it’s done.

See how it’s separated into flakes of fish? Just right.

Serve as simply or elaborately as you wish. New potatoes and steamed vegetables or salad for a filling, but healthy dinner, placed on to a plate with a hunk of bread for lunch. You can’t go wrong.

2 Responses to “Fried mackerel fillets”

1. cream until fluffy » A lobster and a dover sole… says:

   20 July, 2010 at 9:08 pm

   [...] I didn’t deem it necessary really. If you want to see a fish being fried, have a look at the fried mackerel fillets post. The Sole had already been gutted before being brought home and there was no point in [...]
2. cream until fluffy » Hugh’s Fish Fight and some Mackerel tips says:

   1 February, 2011 at 6:23 pm

   [...] If you want an uber quick meal, just fry the mackerel fillets [...]