Chefs Recipe: Cured Mackerel with Avocado and Pickled Cucumber, by Douglas Balish

Created by Michelin-starred Head Chef Douglas Balish, this beautifully elegant dish is available to enjoy in The Tudor Room at Great Fosters or, for the skilled amongst you, is a delightful dish to wow your guests with when entertaining.

This is a great starter when you can get hold of the freshest mackerel available. This recipe can be made the day before.

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INGREDIENTS

Serves: 4

2 Mackerel

Mackerel cure
200g Maldon salt
165g sugar
4 limes ( juice and zest )
50g dill
Avocado puree
2 avocados
1 tablespoon creme fraiche
2 limes ( juice only )
salt

Pickled cucumber
100g water
15g chardonnay vinegar
5g sugar
2g salt

Cucumber dressing
1 x cucumber deseeded
extra cucumber skins from pickled cucumber
100g olive oil
xanthan gum (optional)

To garnish
caviar
red shiso leaves
dill sprigs
sliced raw fennel
METHOD

You can buy mackerel fillets with the pin bones removed already to make this easier.  Blend the mackerel cure into a smooth paste then cover evenly around the fillets. Leave this for 6 hours then gently wash in a container of cold water.

The avocado puree can be made up to 24 hours in advance, add all ingredients to the blender and blend until smooth and thick. You can add more creme fraiche to loosen the mixture if it becomes too thick. Cucumber dressing, peel the cucumbers for the pickle and dressing and deseed the inside of the remaining cucumber. Bring the cucumber skins to the boil and remove from the water. Blend the skins with the oil until smooth then pass through a sieve. You can add xanthan gum when blending if you wish to have a thicker dressing or add some of the cucumber skin water to make a thinner dressing. To pickle the cucumber, peel and cut into batons or any shape that suits, add the other ingredients and leave for at least 12 hours.

To finish the dish slice the mackerel into strips and if you want to add an extra touch then blowtorch the skin to give an amazing charred crust to the fish whilst semi cooking it. In the Tudor Room, we garnish the fish with caviar, red shiso, dill and some raw baby fennel but any variation would work.

Great Fosters | Stroude Road | Egham | Surrey |TW20 9UR  Telephone: 01784 433822

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