Soused Mackerel and Braised Red Cabbage by David Hetherington of The Finnieston Bar & Restaurant in Glasgow

Glistening like a fishy tiger with that pattern on its back, the mackerel is a gorgeous specimen! Mackerel is an oily fish, a rich source of omega-3, fatty acids and down right delicious. As the flesh of mackerel deteriorates very quickly this recipe which lightly pickles the fish should give it extra shelf life as well as making it taste great.

The Finnieston were crowned ‘Glasgow Restaurant of the Year ‘ at this years Scottish Food Awards.

For more information visit http://www.thefinniestonbar.com

Ingredients: Serves 4

For the mackerel:

4 fillets of fresh mackerel (pin boned)

100g caster sugar

100ml cider vinegar

2 sprigs thyme

1 star anise

100ml water

For the cabbage:

½ red cabbage, finely shredded

100g soft brown sugar

150ml cider vinegar

100g finely diced shallot

100g finely diced pancetta

Pear purée:

3 pears

100g caster sugar

Garnish:

1 red radish

Method:

  1. Start off by putting all the ingredients for the mackerel (except the mackerel) into a small pan and bring to the boil. Allow it to cool slightly then lay the fish out on a high sided tray and pour over the just warm pickling mix. Cover and place in the fridge. Ideally this will sit overnight to fully pickle.
  2. Next in a heavy bottomed pan, place the cabbage and all of the other ingredients on the list into the pot. Slowly cook this on a medium/low heat for around 3 hours, stirring frequently until the cabbage is tender. Set aside to cool.
  3. Now this pear purée might be a little scary at first as we are 100% burning it on purpose. Being by chopping up the pears into quarters. Dust them in caster sugar, and place into a hot pan.  Let's them caramelise, then turn them and let that side caramelise. Keep doing this until the outside is black in colour, then we want to purée them, for as long as you can to make them as smooth as you can.
  4. Serve the soused mackerel with the cabbage and the pear purée. All those little burnt bits from the purée will work really well with the sweet oily fish and the sharp pickled cabbage.
  5. Now I've played it like above but you can experiment how you like. Bon appetite!

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