Posted on by Lesley

A profusion of mackerel

Friends from the village gave us a bag of freshly caught mackerel from Armadale Bay yesterday.

They arrived, shining, still smelling of the sea. I always think they’re such lovely looking fish.

Husband heroically gutted them all in the tiny caravan kitchen sink and we decided to cook them over the barbecue whilst they were at their best.

Mackerel

There is nothing quite like freshly chargrilled mackerel. They were moist, sweet and slightly smoky from the fire, their skins blackened and crispy. We ate them whilst the sun went down with good bread, dill-pickled cucumber and some fresh salad.

There was enough left over to make mackerel pate this morning. The meat was flaked off into a bowl with cream cheese, lemon juice and zest, a lime, sea salt and cracked black pepper.

Mackerel pate

A pot has gone into the fridge to eat later with sourdough toast, and a bowl has been wrapped as a thankyou gift for the neighbours who brought us the fish.

Later on toasted sourdough

I was just musing that the last time we ate mackerel pate was an expensive pot bought from a London deli. And here we are a year on, eating the same, but probably fresher and more flavoursome than anything bought from a shop.

Eaten with thanks as part of our new life here in Scotland.

16 Replies to “A profusion of mackerel”

  2. Fish straight from the sea is as different from that on the slab in the supermarket as a tomato still sun warmed, straight off the vine is from one in a plastic punnet. One of the joys for me of living where I do is being able to buy food straight from the producer (or produce it myself). Such a simple blessing!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  4. It is a lovely feeling when you harvest from nature isn’t it, it is true riches. I think monetary riches are so fleeting; money rich leaves you with anxiety because it is so easy to lose. True riches, from nature, give you a sense of fullfilment, a knowing that nature will provide.
    Are the mackeral you have the same as we have here? I don’t think so somehow, ours are fresh water fish, they are not often caught and are full of bones when they are. I used to enjoy the flavour though, when we ate fish.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    1. Our mackerel are sea fish, quite oily flesh with a rich taste. Seasonal. We get shoals of them at this time of the year.

      Like

      Reply

      2. Sounds like a mixed family, like ours. One vegan. One carnivore. Two omnivores. Joy. ❤️😂

        Like

Leave a comment