I absolutely love cooking mackerel like this – it’s such a neat one-tray dish and the blend of mingled flavours is wonderful. It also works well with other fish.
Serves 4
500–750g small new potatoes
300g shallots
3 tablespoons olive oil, plus extra for brushing
About 6 bay leaves, each twisted or torn
8 mackerel fillets from 4 small-medium fish
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Lemon wedges to serve
Preheat the oven to 190oC/Gas 5. Scrub or scrape the new potatoes and cut into quarters or smallish chunks, roughly walnut-sized. Peel the shallots and halve them.
Put the potatoes and shallots into a large roasting dish. Add the 3 tablespoons olive oil, plenty of salt and pepper and the bay leaves and toss the lot together. Roast for about 40 minutes until the potatoes are golden brown and the shallots are starting to caramelise, giving them a good stir halfway through cooking.
Brush the mackerel fillets with a little olive oil and season well with salt and pepper. Lay them, skin side up, on the potatoes and shallots, nestling them down into the veg a little, but not burying them completely. Turn the oven setting up to 200oC/Gas 6. Roast the fish and veg together for about 8 minutes until the mackerel is cooked through.
Serve straight away, with lemon wedges for squeezing. You don’t really need an accompaniment, but I do sometimes like a green salad before or alongside this lovely dish.
SWAPS You can replace the mackerel with pretty much any other fish, from whole sardines to a slab of white fish such as pollack, or fillets of gurnard or bass.