Soused mackerel fillets

My friend Cormac Kinsella fed this to Shona and me a few weeks ago, a fantastic starter and very tasty.

Ingredients:
4 mackerel, filleted
small onion, thinly sliced
175ml tarragon vinegar
75ml vermouth
15 crushed juniper berries
1/2 tsp black mustard seeds
10 white & 10 black peppecorns
3 bay leaves
1 1/2 tbsp caster sugar

Method:
Heat the oven to 180C. While it’s warming up, rinse the mackerel under the tap and check for obvious bones & remove with a tweezers. Put the fillets in a glass dish and the other ingredients into a pot and bring to the boil. When it has boiled, pour over the mackerel and top up with hot water just so that it just covers the fish. Cover the lot with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Serve warm with crusty bread.

Serves 4.

Image above from the Padstow Mussel Co, a Cornish Coastal Art Collection.