Mackerel is quite affordable both in price and in the presence of fish in stores. It tastes good and is fairly fatty in meat. You can cook it in various ways: cook, fry, stew. However, consider how you can bake mackerel in the oven.
General features of cooking mackerel in the oven
There are certain rules that professional chefs use to prepare a fragrant, delicate and insanely delicious fish dish. They willingly share some of them with housewives who are interested in questions about how to bake mackerel in the oven.
Often for the preparation of other varieties of marine product, it is recommended to fry it in a pan before the baking process. In the case of mackerel, this does not need to be done, as the fish will become dry.
In order to maintain the rules of healthy eating, professional chefs do not recommend using any type of fat for making mackerel - it is already a product rich in this component.
In the event that a carcass saved by freezing was chosen to prepare the product, it must be preliminarily soaked in the marinade. Otherwise, during the baking process, the whole dish will be saturated with an unpleasant aroma.
In what form is it desirable to cook such a fish? There are many ways. First of all, you can completely gut all the insides and bake it whole. Some recipes include baked mackerel in steak slices. A separate group of cooks prefers to cut it into halves along the body and bake in this form. In any case, provided the correctly selected cooking technology, the mackerel is very tasty, juicy and aromatic.
How much to bake mackerel in the oven? As a rule, the duration of such a process directly depends on how it is carried out. So, if this is done in foil, then the process usually takes about an hour, the same applies to the method of preparation in the sleeve. In the event that the fish is brought to readiness in open form, then the baking procedure takes about 35-40 minutes.
Foil casserole
If you want to cook such a fish in a very simple way, it is often recommended to use just such a recipe.
The preparation of such a dish should begin with cutting the fish on the fillet (if desired, you can take it ready-made). 800 g of fish meat without skin and bones must be passed through a meat grinder or chopped using a blender, after which the resulting mass should be slightly salted. Now you need to add a couple of beaten egg whites there, as well as pour a tablespoon of starch. The mass must be thoroughly kneaded to a state of complete homogeneity.
In a separate bowl, grate a peeled green apple and a small zucchini, peeled and peeled. To this mass, it is necessary to add finely chopped greens of dill and parsley, as well as one egg yolk.
After all the preparations have been made, it is necessary to take the baking dish and tightly cover it with foil. The mass, which is based on minced fish, should be distributed throughout the bottom, and then it must be properly tamped. On top of it, in the same way, lay a mixture made of zucchini and apple. From the combined ingredients you need to roll the roll, and then wrap it in foil and send it to the oven for baking for 50 minutes. The optimum temperature for this process is 190 degrees.
Mackerel with potatoes
Such a dish can be a wonderful decoration for any festive table. For its preparation, you should prepare a pair of small carcasses of fish, gut them and remove the fins, while maintaining the integrity of the shape of the fish. After that, the ridge must be removed from it, making an incision at the very top. When this is done, the fish must be filled with a filling, which it is desirable to make in advance so that by this moment it has time to cool.
The filling for such stuffed baked mackerel is as follows. First of all, to prepare it, you should peel and thoroughly wash 3-4 medium-sized potatoes and boil them as is usually done for mashed potatoes: in boiling salted water for half an hour. After this, the liquid from the pan must be drained and crushed with the help of improvised means (or beat with a blender).
In a separate frying pan, you need to heat a tablespoon of olive oil, toss a small amount of dried rosemary into it, and after 10 seconds, remove it. After that, carefully chopped small-sized purple onion should be thrown into the oil. After several minutes of frying, send the onions to the potatoes, season the resulting mass with 30 g of grated mozzarella, as well as a teaspoon of dried herbs (for example, you can take a mixture of sage, black pepper, thyme and oregano).
In order for the mackerel, baked with potatoes, to have a more pleasant spicy aroma, you can first grind the spices with your fingers before sending them in mashed potatoes. After this, the ingredients must be mixed well and stuffed with each fish. Many comments on this recipe say that at this stage it takes on a form similar to Adjarian khachapuri.
After the fish is stuffed, a baking sheet with it must be sent to the oven, heated to 180-190 degrees. Bake it for about half an hour. After the specified time, the temperature should be reduced to 170 degrees - in just 10 minutes, the mackerel baked with potatoes will be ready.
With vegetables
Decoration of any banquet can be a mackerel baked with vegetables. It is prepared quite simply and, most importantly, quickly - this is especially true when the guests are already on the threshold. In addition, fish baked in this way is especially useful, since most nutritionists recommend using this type of product with vegetables - so all the useful trace elements and vitamins contained in it are absorbed a little better.
To cook mackerel baked with vegetables, you need to take 5-6 steaks of this fish. They must be thoroughly washed, dried with a kitchen towel, and then grated with salt. For a while, the fish should be set aside on the table so that it is fed.
While this happens, you should heat the pan, pour a small amount of olive oil into it and add two finely chopped garlic cloves. After a few seconds, the chopped celery root should be sent there and fried over high heat for 10-15 minutes.
While the ingredients are fried, you need to take a baking dish, put a greased foil on it. Then it is necessary to lay fish on it, which should be sprinkled with a small amount of lemon juice. For mackerel, put 200 g chopped asparagus, chopped bell peppers, and fried celery with garlic. After all the ingredients have been collected, the foil must be tightly wrapped and put the baking sheet with the contents in the oven for 30 minutes. If desired, in 5-10 minutes you can reveal the contents of the foil so that the fish is browned and acquired a more appetizing appearance.
Up the sleeve
The recipe for mackerel baked in a sleeve is an amazing find for any housewife. This recipe is quite simple to use, and the result is a truly aromatic, juicy, mouth-watering and, most importantly, tasty dish.
Cooking baked mackerel in the sleeve must begin with pre-treatment of fish. This procedure involves gutting, washing and removing fins. If you wish, you can leave your head to give the dish an original look, but in this case, you must remove the gills from it and remove your eyes. If there is no need to leave the head, then it can be cut off.
After the carcass has been cleaned, grate it with a small amount of salt (to taste). While it is being consumed, you can do cooking vegetables. In order for the cooked dish to have a particularly pleasant aroma, it is necessary to use sweet pepper among the ingredients for it, which should be chopped into strips. Also, in order to bake mackerel in the oven, you need to cut in circles a couple of tubers of carrots. Vegetables should be immersed in one bowl, sprinkled with a small amount of olive oil.
After all the components have been processed, they must be folded into a sleeve. It is necessary to immerse fish in it, add chopped vegetables, 200 g of corn (fresh or frozen), and also a teaspoon of olive oil to it. In order for the finished dish to turn out juicy, half the glass of water should also be poured into the sleeve. After that, the ingredients in the bag should be immersed on a baking sheet and sent to the oven for baking for 40-45 minutes.
With onion
Any housewife, even one that has a minimal set of cooking skills, can cook mackerel fillet baked in the oven with onions. Most chefs recommend using a purple-colored vegetable to create such a masterpiece, as it is its taste that blends best with the qualities of this fish variety. In addition, you can use any spices to create a dish, for which some housewives create their own spicy ISS, and some prefer to buy ready-made sets in stores.
When baking mackerel in the oven in this way, it is necessary to pre-treat two carcasses of fish. From them it is necessary to remove all the insides, wash and trim the fins. Heads can also be removed.
After all preparations have been made, you need to grate the fish with salt, a set of selected spices (to taste), and then tightly wrap in foil and put in a cold place for pickling for about an hour and a half.
After this period, the fish must be removed from the refrigerator, deployed and made on each carcass several transverse incisions. In each of them you need to stick a thin ring of onions. Now the mackerel should be immersed on a baking sheet and evenly greased on top with a small amount of mayonnaise (about a tablespoon).
Whole baked mackerel must be cooked for 40 minutes under temperature conditions of 200 degrees.
With lemon
Mackerel baked with lemon has a very pleasant taste and mouth-watering appearance. All the ingredients that make up the dish are designed for three medium-sized carcasses.
Cooking should begin with the pre-treatment of mackerel, for which fins should be cut off, gutted and thoroughly washed, removing the dark film. Next, for such a dish you need to make a spicy mass. It is prepared from crushed clove of garlic, a small amount of a mixture of ground peppers, a pinch of salt and juice squeezed from half a lemon. The specified components must be mixed until homogeneous, and then evenly lubricate each fish with the mixture obtained, both outside and inside. Next, in the abdomen of each carcass, you need to put a few twigs of cilantro and a circle of lemon (in total it will require a couple of citruses). In this form, the mackerel must be left to marinate for half an hour.
After the specified time, you need to take a baking sheet and thoroughly grease it with butter. Then it should be placed on the fish and sent to the oven, preheated to 190 degrees. After 30-35 minutes, a baking sheet with the contents must be removed. Before serving, you can also sprinkle the dish with a small amount of lemon juice.
Some gourmet cooks sometimes recommend varying this recipe somewhat. In particular, for the preparation of mackerel using this technology, you can use more than one lemon, but in combination with lime. Also, a recipe option is often offered, in which the lemon is replaced with a red orange - according to gourmets, this option is very refined.
Stuffed mackerel
In order to cook fish stuffed in this way, you do not need a lot of culinary knowledge, since the cooking procedure is feasible even for a novice hostess
To create such a juicy, aromatic and very tasty culinary masterpiece, you should take a large carcass of fish, gut it thoroughly and wash it. After that, you need to prepare the filling. For it, you need to boil a hard-boiled large chicken egg, chop it with a knife or a coarse grater, and then add grated carrots (1 pc.) And a slice of cream cheese (50-60 g) to it. Finely chopped greens of dill and parsley should also be included here. All components of the filling should be thoroughly mixed and stuffed with mackerel.
When all preparations are done, the mackerel must be tightly wrapped in foil (you can even in 2-3 layers) and put on a baking sheet. Next, the fish should be baked in the oven, heated to 180 degrees, for half an hour.
Baked mackerel prepared in this way with cheese, carrots and eggs looks very nice on any banquet table.
With tomatoes
The majority of culinary experts consider a simple combination of this type of fish and tomato not only a classic of the culinary genre, but also the most successful combination. The calorie content of baked mackerel is quite high, it exceeds 1180 calories per 100 g of product, however, the fats contained in it are very useful.
Cooking so fish can be quite simple. To do this, it is enough to gut a couple of carcasses and then pretreat them. After that, each mackerel should be laid out on a baking sheet, which must first be covered with foil. Around all this, you should evenly spread the sliced 5-7 medium-sized tomatoes in circles (it is best to take cream), as well as zucchini chopped in the same way. It is necessary to lay vegetables, laying on top of each other and alternating. When the vegetables are folded, sprinkle them with a small amount of olive oil - so you can avoid burning. In order for the dish to have a wonderful aroma and taste, vegetables (and partly fish) should be sprinkled with a set of herbs, consisting of basil and oregano.
How much to bake mackerel in the oven? This will take about 45 minutes, but provided that the oven is heated to 190 degrees.
Mustard Marinade Fish
Very aromatic and spicy, this kind of fish is cooked according to this recipe. Mackerel baked in mustard sauce will certainly appeal to all households. In addition, it can easily surprise guests invited to a banquet.
To cook mackerel baked in mustard sauce, you need to take a couple of fish carcasses and pre-process. After that, each of them should be dried with paper towels, and then evenly sprinkled with a mixture of seasonings made from a couple of teaspoons of Provence herbs, as well as a small amount of black ground pepper and salt to taste. On top of all this, grate the fish with Dijon mustard (with grains), which in total will need about four tablespoons. As practice shows, it gives the dish a more piquant taste and aroma than classic seasoning. In this form, the fish should be sent to a cold place for pickling for half an hour.
While it is pickled, you can prepare vegetables. To do this, cut into circles a couple of ripe tomatoes and one bell pepper. The same thing needs to be done with a pair of onions.
When the fish is ready, it should be laid out on a baking sheet, previously placed on a separate piece of foil, the size of which will be enough to subsequently wrap it. On top of the fish, you must evenly spread the vegetables, sprinkle everything with a small amount of olive oil, and then tightly wrap and put in the oven to bake. About 20-25 minutes should pass before the fish is ready, provided that the oven is preheated to 180 degrees.
The calorie content of baked mackerel prepared according to this recipe is almost 200 kcal per 100 g. That is why nutritionists do not recommend consuming such a product in large quantities.
Mackerel in sour cream sauce
Mackerel baked with carrots and sour cream sauce is a real find for any talented housewife. It is preparing relatively quickly.
To create such a culinary masterpiece, you need to clean and wash one large carcass of fish, remove the head, bones and cut it into portioned pieces. After that, 4 potato tubers must be peeled and cut into thin circles. After that, they must be put in a container with water, and after 10-15 minutes, drain it - thus the starch existing in it will be eliminated from the vegetable. In addition to potatoes, you also need to cut one carrot into circles.
After the bulk of the vegetables have been prepared, grate each piece of fish with a mixture made from salt and herbs (to taste). After that, they must be fried in a large amount of vegetable oil until the fish acquires a golden hue. As soon as this happens, it should be left, put on a baking sheet with foil. After this, vegetables should be added to it, pour all this with sour cream of high fat content (about 4 tablespoons), and also sprinkle with herbs. Above all, you need to build a kind of "cover" of foil.
In this form, the ingredients must be sent to the oven for half an hour.