Smoked Mackerel Salad

How to prepare the greens, fish and pepper

1. You need the freshest salad leaves for this salad. If the lettuce is a bit limp, put it in cold water the day before.

2. Rinse the leaves and dry off the water drops. The less moisture gets into the salad, the better. By the way, if you shake the water off the leaves and spread them on a towel, turning them from time to time, they dry quite quickly.

   

3. Prepare the mackerel: cut the fish in half lengthwise and remove the backbone and rib bones. Trim off the remains of the fins very carefully, since they hold a lot of tiny bones, and thoroughly remove any leftover dark membrane that lines the belly cavity.

   For this salad, it is better to buy smoked mackerel that is gutted and headless. Such fish is more “dry”, and the appetizer turns out better. Smoked mackerel usually has a pleasant golden color and smells good.

   

4. Roast a large bell pepper until the skin darkens and starts to come away from the flesh, which makes the salad more fragrant. The easiest way is to bake it in the microwave or oven after brushing it with oil. The pepper turns out even more aromatic if you roast it over an open flame or in a special pepper and vegetable roaster. In Bulgaria it is called a chushkopek, an extremely useful kitchen gadget. Let the roasted pepper cool a little so it does not burn your fingers.

   

How to assemble the green salad

1. Tear the washed and dried salad leaves into small pieces with your fingers. It is better not to cut them with a knife, because they release a lot of liquid and the smoked fish appetizer turns into soup. Pull the stems off the arugula and mix the whole leaves with the lettuce. Pick the leaves off the herb sprigs and roughly tear them with your fingers. Put all the greens in a large salad bowl, salt lightly and toss so the salt spreads and dissolves in the moisture.

   

3. Peel the cooled roasted pepper, removing the outer skin that looks like a film. Cut the pepper in half lengthwise, remove the seeds and cut the flesh across into strips about 5 mm wide. Wash the cherry tomatoes and cut them into wedges. Add the pepper and tomatoes to the greens and mix.

   

Serving

1. Cut the mackerel fillet across into strips 8-10 mm wide and arrange them neatly on plates, half a fish per serving, shaped like half of a whole fish. If you like, you can put the tail fin on one of the plates.

   The boned fillet can be skinned, which is easy and quick. As a rule, I leave the skin on. It comes away from the pieces easily while eating, so skinning is not essential.

2. Put the prepared green salad on the plates next to the fish and add a few black olives.

3. Dress the salad: in a small bowl, mix 2-3 tbsp of olive oil and 0.5 tsp of balsamic vinegar, whisk with a fork and pour over the green salad. Do not toss it. Add a lime quarter to each plate.

   

   There is no need to chill the smoked fish salad further. At room temperature the aroma of the fish and roasted pepper comes through, and that is best. I suggest squeezing a little extra lime juice over the salad. A glass of dry white wine goes nicely with it.