Sirloin of Jonnie

There's nothing much easier, more satisfying, and a real treat all at the same time, than a steak supper.

When you've got grass fed and 28 day dry aged meat to work with it's a whole lot better. When that meat comes from a source you know, this is a no brainer. Bravo Jonnie, this is the business.

Steak Supper

Serves 2

There’s a lot to be said for a great char-grilled steak – try your hand at making this deliciously meaty steak supper.

2 x 200g beef steaks, a boneless slice from the rump or top round or the sirloin as thick as your thumb

Olive oil
for the béarnaise sauce

1 small shallot
3 tblsp white wine, or tarragon vinegar
6 whole black peppercorns
3-4 stems tarragon, and their leaves
2 egg yolks
Dijon mustard
125g butter, soft, almost melted

Rub your steak all over with olive oil, not too much; just enough to give it a good gloss, then grind a little black pepper over both sides. I put salt on later. Get the grill pan hot, then slap on the steak and press it down onto the ridges with a metal spatula. Let it cook for two full minutes. Do not move it.

Now turn it over (long metal tongs are useful here), press it down again (this is when I usually add the salt), and let it cook for a further two minutes. The best way to tell if your steak is done is to press it with your finger.

Timing is a hopelessly inaccurate measure because so much depends on how your meat has been hung and butchered. The best—by which I mean the juiciest—results will come from a steak where your finger has left a slight indentation. Until you get to know the “feel” of your steaks you may have to make a small cut into them, but you will lose juice this way. If you want a well-done steak, with no blood in it, then I can’t help you. Well, I could but I won’t.

Incidentally, I sometimes pour a little wine onto the grill pan after removing the steak and let it bubble, then pour the meagre, intensely beefy juices over my steak. Serve with fries or accompanied with béarnaise sauce.

For the sauce, peel and finely chop the shallot, and put it in a small saucepan with the vinegar, peppercorns, and the tarragon leaves and stems. Bring to a boil and watch it while it reduces to a tablespoon or so. Put the egg yolks and a little mustard into a glass bowl (not a steel one, they get too hot) and place it over a pan of very gently simmering water.

The bowl should sit snugly in the top of the pan. Whisk the reduced vinegar into the egg yolks, holding the debris back in the pan, then slowly add the butter, a soft cube at a time, whisking almost constantly until it is thick and velvety. You can turn the heat off halfway through; the sauce must not get too hot. It may need a little salt. It will keep warm, with the occasional whisk, while you pan-grill your steak and fry your frites—which, by the way, I tend to buy very thin and frozen, and cook in deep peanut oil.

tomatoes, mozzarella, anchovies, breadcrumbs

Seeing as burrata with tomatoes was the last thing I committed to paper, why not continue the theme I thought. Dull as it may seem, the simplicity of adding sharpness and salt to a tomato is a wonderful thing to do. As this is a baked number, plum tomatoes tend to hold their shape better than the majority of the round varieties, but don't let that stop you if round ones are what you have.

Baked tomatoes with mozzarella, anchovies and breadcrumbs

Serves 4

12 plum tomatoes

175g fresh breadcrumbs
8 anchovy fillets
2 large cloves garlic
a good handful of basil leaves
a ball of mozzarella
6 tblsp olive oil

Chop the anchovies, peel and finely chop the garlic and cut the mozzarella into small dice.

Preheat the oven to 220°c/gas 7. Slice the tomatoes in half lengthways and scoop the seeds into a bowl. Place the tomatoes skin-side down in a roasting tin so that they nudge up against one another.

Mix the tomato innards with the breadcrumbs, anchovies, garlic, basil, mozzarella and two tablespoons of the olive oil.

Season the stuffing with salt and black pepper, and pile the filling into the tomato halves. Pour over the remaining olive oil and bake for 25 minutes until the filling is golden.

a half decent hummous

Is it hummous, hummus, hommos, humos, hommus or hoummos even? It certainly isn't humus, we know that for sure. Weirdly my spellcheck only recognises hummus. It's now actually having a problem with my recognises, but I'm refusing to put a z in there.

Never tire of it, can eat it for ever, and it also does the business in so many other ways other than just jabbing some arabic bread into a pot of the stuff.

Hummous

Serves a few as just one element of a mezze (or is it mezzeh or meze even?) spread, but make sure it always features

225g tinned chickpeas
6 tblsp tahini paste
2 cloves of garlic, peeled
6 tblsp lemon juice
3 tblsp olive oil
cayenne pepper
freshly ground black pepper
salt
olive oil, for drizzling

Whizz up the chickpeas in a food processor or blender with a little of the liquid from the can until they are smooth.

Add the tahini, garlic, lemon juice and olive oil and work in the processor or blender until very smooth. Season with the peppers and salt. Turn into a dish, scraping out all of the hummous from the mixer bowl with a rubber spatula.

Flatten the top slightly, then drizzle over some olive oil and serve with warm pitta bread.

hong kong bumps into moscow

In a city I'd never made it to before a couple of weeks ago, Moscow; there are some utterly brilliant people, the most amazing sights and some of the most wonderful magical ingredients still to be properly discovered outside the region. Among the fantastically shaped bottles, jars and sachets which I'm now lucky to have at home, is a great big bottle of tkemali. 

Tkemali is the name of the wild sour plum which gives the sauce its name, and I'm to believe is Georgian in origin. It's a ketchup like condiment, and has everything going on from pungently tangy to tart, sweet and sour, but above all else, its insanely addictive now I've opened my bottle.

Fried rice pops up at home an awful lot, and every time it comes out just that little bit differently, I guess the nature of what's at home and kicking about in the fridge will always dictate as such. This time of the year it has to be glutinous rice though, makes the whole thing more sticky and warming, perfect as winter begins to take shape (21°c and blue skies here today)

fried rice, bbq pork, tkemali

For the glutinous fried rice

Serves 4

500g glutinous rice, soaked overnight

50g dried shrimps, soaked and cleaned

50g shredded dried cuttlefish, cleaned

3 Chinese dried sausages, sliced

8 large mushrooms cut into cubes

1 bunch of spring onions, chopped

4 tblsp garlic oil

2 egg omelette, shredded

25g fried peanuts

Seasoning

1tbsp dark soya sauce

1tbsp oyster sauce

2tsp salt

Clean and drain the soaked glutinous rice and steam for about 35-45 minutes. Sprinkle water into the steamed rice every 15 mins and continue steaming. Fluff up the rice after 25 minutes and continue sprinkling water till the rice is soft. You can pinch some rice and try if it's soft enough, if not, just continue to steam.

Remove from steamer and set aside. In a wok, pour in the garlic oil, then put in the dried shrimps and dried cuttlefish and fry them till aromatic, add the mushrooms, Chinese sausages and sauté for several minutes on a medium heat.

Now add in the steamed glutinous rice and seasonings and keep frying till everything is well mixed with the seasonings.

Taste and add more salt if necessary. Toss in the chopped spring onions, shredded omelette and fried peanuts to finish.

Serve with the barbecued pork, and a heavy handed hit of tkemali and your work for the night is now complete.

fried rice in prawns, no egg no pork shocker

Go to, dead easy, pick up the ingredients on the way home from the market for next to nothing, delicious and pretty healthy to boot. This fried rice recipe is an easy knock up at home version of ubiquitous staple, always a very popular dish. This one doesn't include eggs or pork on purpose; instead its all about the prawns and vegetables.

Prawn fried rice
 
Serves 4 with plenty other dishes. Or on its own. You do what you want.

1 tblsp olive oil
500g fresh prawns, peeled and de-veined
50g shiitake or button mushrooms, halved
1 courgette, thinly sliced
1 small carrot, thinly sliced
50g green beans, cut into 2.5cm pieces
a handful of corn kernels
500g hot steamed rice
2 tsp shoyu sauce
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 spring onion, thinly sliced, to serve

Heat the oil in a wok or a big non stick sauté pan and stir-fry the prawns for barely a minute over a high heat.

Remove and set aside. Add the mushrooms, courgette, carrot, green beans and corn and stir-fry for a couple of minutes. Stir in the hot rice and shoyu sauce, season with pepper and mix thoroughly.

Return the prawns to the pan and stir-fry the rice mixture for a couple of minutes. Serve sprinkled with the spring onions.

 

daal in the lanka

Every time I attempt to make this incredibly simple and fragrant Sri Lankan dish, I make it ever so slightly differently. Not because I'm in the pursuit of fancy, it just happens like that. Every time Nalaka makes it, it's exactly the same, which is brilliant. Sometimes I put ground chilli in, sometimes green and red chillies. Occasionally some crispy fried garlic shavings, maybe some mint and coriander too. Great with rice, great as a replacement to rice, great on its own, better the way he does it.

Daal, the way Nalaka makes it, I think

Serves 2

200g yellow split peas
1 small onion
6 garlic cloves
2 small, hot green chillies

2 tsp cinnamon bits
1 tsp ground turmeric

2 tsp curry powder
salt and black pepper

12 curry leaves

1 rampa leaf (pandan)

200ml thin coconut milk

200ml thick coconut milk

 

Rinse the split peas in cold water. Peel and finely slice the onion. Peel and cut the garlic in half, chop the chillies into little strips.

Put the peas, onion, chilli, garlic, cinnamon, turmeric, curry powder, leaves, salt and black pepper in with the peas and cover with the thin coconut milk. Bring to the boil, cover with a lid then simmer for 15-20 minutes until the pulses are softening.

 

To finish, add the thicker coconut milk and bring back to a faster simmer with the lid off, cooking until all the milk has absorbed.

 

You can always peel and finely slice more garlic, cook till golden and lightly crisp in a shallow pan with oil, then stir into the daal with a handful of chopped coriander leaves. Nalaka doesn't, so there we have it.

 

mackerel season and the oily fish right thing to do

What's not to love about doing a spot of fishing for the likes of seabass? Of course its a top fish we all want, a prize catch if ever there was. Undoubtedly though, if bass is the target, the likelihood of hitting a run of mackerel at this time of the year scores pretty high, so being prepared for it will always come in quite handy. The way things are going out there on the high seas also brings to mind the fact that little oily wonders in the shape of mackerel should really be in our baskets, on our plates and in our bellies when they're coming out the water in relative abundance. Dead healthy, really quick to prepare, even quicker to cook. What's not to love about a fresh mackerel indeed?

 

Seared mackerel fillet with red onion marmalade

 

Serves 4

4 mackerel fillets, about 100g each

Olive oil, for brushing the fish

1 lime

Small bunch of chives, to garnish

 

For the onion marmalade

50g salted butter

Splash of olive oil

4 red onions, finely sliced

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

150ml sherry vinegar

25g dark soft brown sugar

50g pomegranate seeds

 

To make the onion marmalade, melt the butter with the olive oil in a saucepan and add the onions together with a good pinch of salt and pepper. Cook over a medium heat for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally until well softened, being careful not to allow the onions to burn or colour too much.

 

Add the vinegar, sugar, and pomegranate, bring to the boil, reduce the heat and then simmer gently for about 30 minutes, uncovered, or until the marmalade comes together as a mass. Turn out into a dish and keep warm at the side of the hob.

 

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas 6. Heat an ovenproof frying pan to very hot, brush the mackerel fillets on both sides with a little olive oil and lay in the pan, skin-side down. After 3 minutes, sprinkle the flesh side of the fillets with a little salt and pepper and transfer the pan to the oven for 2–3 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fish, until cooked through.

 

Cut the lime in half and then cut four thin slices from the middle. Make a slit in each slice from the centre to the outside edge and give each a half twist. Finely pare the zest from the remaining lime.

 

Place one mackerel fillet onto each serving plate, squeeze the lime juice over and sprinkle with a little of the zest. Place a spoonful of the onion marmalade alongside and garnish with 2 or 3 chives and a twist of lime

the romance of a steak tartare, no really

It all sounds terribly romantic, but when I’m stuck and can’t come up with anything to prepare for a meal at home, I often turn to what has now become the reliable steak tartare. Well, that is on the abnormally rare occasion where the charm of instant noodles don't overwhelm me. This is a no cook piece of genius that is both simple and elaborate. It holds a lot of ingredients but can easily impress through the lack of cooking. The only thing to be careful about is the quality of the ingredients, spanking fresh beef and good eggs kind of speak for themselves really.

Steak tartare

Serves 4

1 large onion
5 cornichons
1 tablespoon capers
2 sprigs Italian parsley
1¼ pounds sirloin steak, preferably organic and grass-fed
4 very fresh organic egg yolks
Tabasco sauce to taste (lots)
Ketchup to taste (more than you think)
Fleur de sel and freshly ground pepper

Finely chop the onion. Separately do the same to the cornichons, capers, and parsley. Place them in small serving bowls and set aside.

Using a very sharp knife, trim the sirloin, removing as much fat as possible. Cut the meat into ¼-inch dice.

Divide the meat among 4 individual serving plates. Shape the meat into a dome, make an indentation in the centre, and nestle the egg yolks in it.

Serve with the onion, capers, cornichons, parsley, Tabasco, ketchup, fleur de sel, and pepper on the side for each guest to season the tartare according to their taste. Serve with a green salad and chips, should the occasion merit a fryer on the go.

 

three day marinades really do work

Recipes, blah blah, marinade for 2 hours, blah blah, preferably overnight, blah blah, just enough time to get the flavour in, blah blah.

I'm telling you now, leave it for three days and you'll really see where depth of flavour comes from.

As for a recipe, here's the time when you can let your senses be your guide, the touch, smell and look added to the taste is all the quantity directives needed, really.

I had some pretty lean pork loin, which does need a little assistance unless it's going to be basted with copious amounts of fat, so maybe the three day thing also worked particularly well for a cut of meat that may otherwise have come out a touch on the dry and chewy side of affairs.

It's no secret that the Thai way of balancing flavours is one of the darlings of the global kitchen, and a massive favourite of mine in a way that it is more often than not cobbled together through trial, error and success. I've had charcoal grilled pork neck in Bangkok where I am reasonably sure that I have NEVER tasted barbecued meat so perfect, so innocently prepared, aggressively seasoned, moist, juicy, tender, and still shimmering with perfectly suspended internal strokes of fat.

My pork sat in a happy bath of soy, fish sauce, red and green chilli, bashed lemongrass, galangal, shallots, lime juice and rice vinegar. Dry roasted in a pan with a lid on after the colour was achieved for no more than 10 minutes, rested then sliced and folded back through the marinade which was tipped into the roasting pan and brought to the boil before being switched off.

A few flecks of fresh red chilli and another squeeze of lime juice was all that was needed to round the show out.

The ever so slightly unconventional bit. Found a great new bakery that's just opened around the corner and the call of their sourdough was way too good to ignore, so a slice of that lightly toasted topped with a crisp shredding of romaine lettuce, smothered with the meat and her pokey marinade.

One more squeeze of lime atop my open sandwich of sorts and my work here is well and truly complete.
 

blue marlin, in a bag, on the beach

Cooking something en papillotte means that you encase it in a wrapping of parchment and essentially steam it in its own juices. Just recently, blue marlin caught that morning in the waters off the south coast of Sri Lanka and baked with a piquant combination of Maldivian dried fish, pickled onions, aubergine, burnt lime, tomatoes, black olives, capers and herbs. This recipe can be made with a wide number of fish, as long as the fillets are the same size and thickness; try tilefish, halibut, cod, haddock, salmon, or sea bass.

 

Blue Marlin en papillotte with tomatoes, olives and a bit of Sri Lanka

 

Serves 4

4 (150 gram) marlin fillets (1 inch thick), skinned
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 medium tomatoes, seeded and diced
8 Kalamata or other brine-cured black olives, halved

a small handful of capers

1 medium onion sliced thinly and pickled in the caper brine
1/2 tsp local masala

8 wedges of grilled lime

8 baby aubergines, halved and roasted in olive oil
2 tblsp unsalted butter, cut into bits

8 leaves of basil

 

Put a rack in middle of oven and preheat oven to 220°c. Cut four 12-by-15-inch sheets of parchment paper (or foil)

 

Fold each sheet crosswise in half to crease, and then unfold. Season fish with salt, pepper and a pinch of the masala and put 1 fillet to the right of the crease on each sheet. Top each fillet with the diced tomato, one quarter of the capers and olives, one quarter each of butter and the basil

 

Working with one package at a time, fold left half of parchment over fillet. Starting at one corner of crease, fold edge of parchment over in triangles (each fold should overlap previous one), following a semicircular path around fillet, smoothing out folds as you go and tucking last fold under to seal papillotte completely.

 

Heat a large baking sheet in oven for 5 minutes. Put the papillotte on hot baking sheet and bake for 9 minutes.

 

To serve, transfer packets to four plates; with a knife, slit top of each packet and tear it to expose fish (use caution: steam will escape). Slide fish and sauce onto plates and discard paper.
 

just some lamb chops

Grilled lamb with tzasiki

 

Serves 4

 

A cool cucumber and yoghurt dip is a refreshing accompaniment for grilled chops. Sometimes I add a clove of garlic to it, sometimes not. Sometimes nothing at all is needed but juicy fatty meat. Chips with chops, that might be the ticket.

 

4 lamb steaks or large chops

2 tblsp olive oil

1 tblsp fresh oregano

 

For the tzasiki

Half a cucumber

250ml thick, natural yogurt

2 spring onions

1 handful mint leaves

 

Grate the cucumber into a sieve or colander, sprinkle lightly with sea salt and sit it in the sink for half an hour. This will rid the cucumber of much of its water.

 

Tip the yoghurt into a mixing bowl. Finely chop the spring onions and stir them into the yoghurt along with the mint leaves, roughly chopped. Squeeze any excess moisture out of the cucumber with your hands then stir it into the yoghurt.

 

Don't be tempted to season the yoghurt; it should be just fine as it is.

 

Keep the tzasiki cool until you need it. Get the grill hot. In a small bowl mix the olive oil with the oregano and a seasoning of salt and black pepper then rub or brush it over the meat. Cook the lamb over a hot grill or in a griddle pan. Ideally the outside should be dark brown and sizzling, the fat crisp and the inside of the meat a deep, juicy rose pink.

 

Serve the lamb with the tzasiki. Or chips.

 

barbecued corn, and more of that beef

Incredible. Remarkable. Outstanding.

This wonderful North Devon beef just keeps getting better, and for a weekday treat, a fillet steak given some simple seasoning and a hard pan fry is all that's needed. If anyone wants some of this incredible meat, give Siana Yewdall a call on +447817 395924 to place an order for one of her brilliant beef boxes.

With a steak of this quality, a slightly fancier something on the side is always worth the effort when the main part needs no help to be splendid. So enter some spunky barbecued corn.

Barbecued sweetcorn with lime, chilli and parmesan butter

Serves 4

This recipe is a regular barbecue number at home, incredibly simple to prepare, and fun to eat.

4 whole corn cobs, in their husks

100g unsalted butter, softened
100g parmesan cheese, freshly grated
finely grated zest of 2 large limes
1-2 bird's-eye chillies, seeded and finely chopped
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 lime, quartered

Place the corn cobs on a preheated hot grill and cook until golden brown, about 15 minutes, turning often.

Peel off the husks when cool enough to handle. While the corn is cooking, combine the butter, parmesan, zest and chilli, and beat until smooth.

Season with salt and pepper and smear each cob with the butter and serve with a wedge of lime, a crispy jacket potato and an outstanding piece of beef fillet.

A proper treat indeed.

Lemon pork ribs with potatoes and herbs

On first inspection, this dish somehow doesn't seem quite right at the time of year, but this is a barbecue inspired classic after all, so what's the problem? Serving as a full on dish is what this recipe is meant to do, but should there be any leftover meat, rolling it up and cutting it into little bite size chunks as a pre dinner nibble for the weekend is utter genius in my book. BBQ and what is done with pork in particular is a tireless subject, and this Georgian number from Helen Graves' travels is definitely worth a look, quite delicious.


Lemon pork ribs with potatoes and herbs

Serves 2

Lemon pork ribs with potatoes and herbs

8 garlic cloves
1 onion
1 lemon
500g pork ribs
Small bunch thyme
A few sage leaves
500g large waxy potatoes such as Charlotte
Knob of butter 

10g flat leaf parsley

Gently crack the garlic cloves with the heel of your hand, then flake away the papery skin. Peel, halve and finely slice the onion. Remove the zest from the lemon in small paper-thin scraps. 

Place the ribs in a pan that can comfortably hold all the ingredients, add the garlic, onion and lemon zest, thyme, sage leaves and a generous seasoning of salt, preferably Maldon sea salt flakes, and black pepper. Peel, rinse and thickly slice the potatoes directly into the pan so they cover the ribs etc.

Cover with water. Tear off sufficient greaseproof paper to tuck inside the pan to cover the food. Smear it with butter and place butter-side down. Bring to the boil, immediately reduce the heat, cover the pan 75 per cent and leave to simmer gently for 30 minutes. 

Check that the meat is meltingly tender, if not, cook on for a further 10 minutes. Serve scattered with parsley, the wedge of lemon, salt and pepper and crusty bread and butter. 

You may wish to add some frozen petits pois for the final few minutes of cooking; these, like the potatoes and butter-soft mellow garlic, are delicious mashed into the juices.

Steak supper

There’s a lot to be said for a great piece of incredibly simply pan fried steak – last night was as simple as a whole piece of fillet pan roasted as rare as was dared and served with crisp potatoes, a few rocket leaves, some crusty bread and a cracking Napa Zinfandel. You can go down one of three routes should you desire. Keep it simple, like my last night effort, go for the classic with Béarnaise number as I've got below, or go all fancy pants in line with the rather misleading photo slipped in here... they all work I believe.

Serves 2 happy people

2 x 200g beef steaks, a boneless slice from the rump or top round or the sirloin as thick as your thumb
Olive oil

Chips
for the Béarnaise sauce

1 small shallot
3 tblsp white wine, or tarragon vinegar
6 whole black peppercorns
3-4 stems tarragon, and their leaves
2 egg yolks
Dijon mustard
125g butter, soft, almost melted

Rub your steak all over with olive oil, not too much; just enough to give it a good gloss, then grind a little black pepper over both sides. I put salt on later. Get the grill pan hot, then slap on the steak and press it down onto the ridges with a metal spatula. Let it cook for two full minutes. Do not move it.

Now turn it over (long metal tongs are useful here), press it down again, this is when I usually add the salt, and let it cook for a further two minutes. The best way to tell if your steak is done is to press it with your finger.

Timing is a hopelessly inaccurate measure because so much depends on how your meat has been hung and butchered. The best—by which I mean the juiciest—results will come from a steak where your finger has left a slight indentation. Until you get to know the “feel” of your steaks you may have to make a small cut into them, but you will lose juice this way. If you want a well-done steak, with no blood in it, then I can’t help you. Well, I could but I won’t.

Incidentally, I sometimes pour a little wine onto the grill pan after removing the steak and let it bubble, then pour the meagre, intensely beefy juices over my steak. Serve with fries or accompanied with béarnaise sauce.

For the sauce, peel and finely chop the shallot, and put it in a small saucepan with the vinegar, peppercorns, and the tarragon leaves and stems. Bring to a boil and watch it while it reduces to a tablespoon or so. Put the egg yolks and a little mustard into a glass bowl (not a steel one, they get too hot) and place it over a pan of very gently simmering water.

The bowl should sit snugly in the top of the pan. Whisk the reduced vinegar into the egg yolks, holding the debris back in the pan, then slowly add the butter, a soft cube at a time, whisking almost constantly until it is thick and velvety. You can turn the heat off halfway through; the sauce must not get too hot. It may need a little salt . It will keep warm, with the occasional whisk, while you pan-grill your steak and fry your frites—which, by the way, I tend to buy very thin and frozen, and cook in deep peanut oil. 

There's nothing much better than a Mackerel sky

Generally speaking, I'm a massive fan of mackerel on a barbecue in the summer, slathered with a fist of lemon juice and a heavy hand with the seasoning including a smatter of chopped green chilli. Although becoming (already become) quite the fashionable fish, it's still relatively cheap and very available while being very good for you in an oily fish kind of a way. Barbecuing aside, there's a ton of recipes out there for the mackerel, the only thing I'd say is catch it (or buy it) and cook as quick as you can, it does have a tendency not to stay at it's best for too long.

Here's a thing for you, a mackerel sky is one of those views as you look up at a seemingly endless sea of extensive clouds that look like fish scales on a bright day. Clouds that are small and white, and usually line themselves up in groups in a regular pattern are something we might not see again for a while now summer is as good as officially over... 

Back in the kitchen though, autumn flavours are starting, and a most welcome change in tempo indeed. This is a terrific one oven tray dinner, but for a great finish to the mackerel, run a blowtorch over the fish to blacken and blister the skin just before serving. This gives it a certain smokiness, really brings out a new dimension to the flavour and makes a massive difference. 

Mackerel with new potatoes and bay leaves

Serves 3-6

1kg new potatoes, scrubbed, the bigger ones halved
2 red onions, halved and sliced
12 bay leaves
6 garlic cloves, unpeeled but bashed to break the skins
2 lemons, halved and thickly sliced
3-4 tblsp olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
30g butter
6 mackerel fillets
Lemon wedges, to serve

Heat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4. Scatter the potatoes in a roasting tin with the onions, bay leaves, garlic, lemon slices and olive oil. Season well; toss everything to combine, then dot the top with the butter.

Roast in the oven until the potatoes are browning and tender, rattling the tin once or twice – about 30-40 minutes.

Carefully take the tin out of the oven. Season the mackerel fillets and lay them skin-side up on top of the potatoes.

Return to the oven and roast for a further six to 10 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fillets, until the mackerel is just opaque. Serve with some lemon wedges and an interesting salad - the fish can take bold flavours so don't be afraid to throw a few capers, maybe some chilli or some pomegranate into a bit of extra dressing here.