In order to properly cook mackerel, you need to know as much as possible about it. The main feature of this fish is that even with a significant amount of subcutaneous fat, prolonged heat treatment makes its meat somewhat dry. Therefore, sometimes it is prepared with products that can correct this drawback. Not bad in this sense, mackerel is combined with currants.
Redcurrant fish
Berry baking is a well-known technique. Culinary specialists use it to add tenderness and a special aroma to the main product. To prepare a meal for four people, you will need: 4 small mackerels (about a quarter kilogram each), 60 grams of red currant, 35 grams of olive oil, 3 medium cloves of garlic, salt, 4 branches of thyme, 7-8 grams of sherry vinegar and a little pepper and sour cream.
The dish is prepared in 20 minutes as follows:
- First you need to prepare all the products. Thyme and currants must be washed and dried, and the garlic slightly crushed with a knife. Preheat the oven to 185 degrees.
- Cover the baking sheet with parchment. Spread fish clean and dried with a paper towel, as well as pre-prepared components. Sprinkle everything with oil and put in the oven. After 5-6 minutes, the mackerel with currants will be ready.
- After that, put it on a plate and lightly pour vinegar.
Serving such a dish is better with sour cream. It will make fish meat more tender and emphasize the taste of each component.
Spicy berry sauce
Salted mackerel with currants goes well. In this case, from the berries it is necessary to prepare a special sauce that will add zest to the whole dish. For such a recipe you will need: 1 salted fish, a glass of blackcurrant berries, 1 onion, a teaspoon of horseradish, 75 grams of sour cream, pepper, 4 grams of sugar and a bunch of dill.
Cooking is carried out in 3 stages:
- Fish preparation. Mackerel must be cleaned from the insides, cut the fillet and divide it into pieces of medium size.
- Cooking the sauce. Cut the peeled onions randomly and chop together with the berries in a blender. Mass with a sieve to free from pits and peels. Add chopped dill and all other components according to the recipe to the finished puree. Beat the resulting mixture again in a blender.
- The decoration of the dish. Pour a little sauce into a wide plate. Put a couple of pieces of fish on top and garnish with a sprig of dill. Pour the remaining sauce into the bowl and place next to it.
Thus prepared mackerel with currants tastes softer and less salty.
Slow Cooking
Recently, technology has been increasingly in the hands of housewives. Mechanisms make it possible to simplify and facilitate even the most complex cooking process. Moreover, this even positively affects the final result. For example, with the help of a slow cooker, an amazing mackerel with currant filling is obtained . For work, you will need the following products: fish, mustard, salt, garlic, onions, peppers, bay leaves, dill, currant berries (or lemon).
Cooking naturally begins with fish:
- The carcass of a mackerel must be carefully cut along the abdomen, and then remove all the bones along with the spine.
- Prepare a mixture of mustard, pepper, salt and crushed garlic. With the resulting mass, grease the fish from the inside and leave it briefly marinated slightly.
- Then unfold the carcass into the layer and lay onion cut in half rings, bay leaf, allspice, dill and currant berries on it. Roll the carcass in half and put in a slow cooker. At the same time, several fish can be placed nearby.
- Now it remains only to set the device to βfastβ mode and wait for the signal.
Mackerel baked with such a set of spices is unusually tasty.
Greens to help
A very important role in the process of cooking fish is played by additional components. There is an interesting recipe that makes mackerel with currants and horseradish leaves very easy to prepare . Here, each ingredient fulfills its role in shaping the taste of the final product. List of initial components: 1 mackerel, a handful of red and a few blackcurrant berries , 5 horseradish leaves (leeks can be used), Β½ teaspoon black pepper, a basil branch, 5 juniper berries, salt and a spoonful of dry white wine.
You need to cook like this:
- Leave the horseradish leaves in boiling water for 40 minutes. Then put them on a strainer net, douse with cold water, and then put them to dry on a paper towel.
- To clean the mackerel: remove all entrails, fins and gills. Lightly grate the carcass with salt.
- Mix currants with chopped basil, juniper and pepper and stuff the fish with the prepared mixture.
- Sprinkle the leaves of horseradish with wine and wrap the prepared fish in them.
- Put the resulting "cocoon" on a plate and put in the microwave for 25 minutes.
- After a beep, get the product and place it on a dish. Cut the leaves with a knife, and pour the fish itself with the allocated juice.
Justified choice
When you choose a snack for the festive table, you always want to impress guests with something unusual. Take, for example, a combination of fresh currant berries and salted mackerel. At first glance, this seems impossible. Each product individually is good in its own way, but it is difficult to imagine them together. It turns out quite the opposite. You just need to think about how we will cook mackerel with currants, and immediately there is a suitable option. True, in the original you need herring, but with mackerel it turns out also not bad. For such an appetizer you will need: 1 slightly salted fish, a bunch of dill, 200 grams of sour cream, a quarter of a head of purple onion, 6 grams of liquid honey, 200 grams of frozen blackcurrant berries, ground pepper and a couple of stalks of green onions.
Now you can start cooking. To do this:
- Disassemble the mackerel on a fillet, then randomly cut into small pieces.
- Prepare in a separate container a liquid base of sour cream, finely chopped herbs, onions, honey and pepper. There, add fish, berries and refrigerate for 12 hours, tightly closing the lid.
The finished product can be served on the table in a salad bowl, decorated with greens, or spread on pieces of brown bread.
A worthy alternative
It is good to bake fish with an air grill. This method allows you to make a real delicacy from any product. To make mackerel in this way, you will need additional ingredients: salt, onion, pepper, aromatic herbs, vegetable oil and lemon.
You need to cook in the following sequence:
- Peel the carcass of the fish, gut it, cut off its head, and then grate it with cooked spices. Inside, put slices of lemon.
- Coat the prepared mackerel in such a way with oil on all sides, wrap in foil and set aside for 30 minutes for marinating.
- Then transfer the mackerel to an air grill, heated to 230 degrees, and leave in it for 20 minutes. Bake the carcass of the fish for the same amount, turning it on the other side.
So with the help of an ordinary kitchen appliance, a wonderful baked mackerel is obtained . With red currants, it will be even tastier. In addition to the necessary acid, it will give the fish a characteristic unique flavor. And if suddenly a lemon is not at hand, then it can easily be replaced with fresh currants.