It looks as good as it tasted. Mackerel is a super fish, and if the recipe chosen works with its singular qualities, there’s almost nothing better. This recipe is one of my favorites, and in fact so favorited that it’s almost my only one.

And the fillets looked great throughout, from the moment I spied them inside the fisher’s bucket in the Union Square Greenmarket until they arrived on the table.

I’m writing this the next day, and I can smell the heavenly aromas, fish and char, as I revisit them in these pictures.

And look at those lines!

• six Spanish mackerel fillets (a total of about 15 ounces) from Blue Moon Fish, washed, dried, brushed with olive oil, seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, pan grilled over high heat for 6 or 7 minutes, skin side down first, turned half way through, removed and completed on the plates with a salsa consisting of 7 ounces of gorgeous cherry tomatoes in various colors and sizes from Alewife Farm, halved,  tossed with olive oil, a teaspoon or more of Sicilian salted capers (first rinsed and drained), much of one small red Calabrian chili pepper, half a tablespoon of juice from a Whole Foods Market organic lemon, sea salt, freshly-ground black pepper, and a bit of spicy liquid, now slightly-fermented, that remained from a salsa prepared for the meal the night before
• haricots verts from Sycamore Farms, left whole, blanched, drained and dried in the same pan over low-medium heat, shaking, then set aside in a bowl until the fish was ready to be grilled , at which time they were reheated in a little oil inside a heavy well-seasoned cast iron pan, finished with sea salt, freshly-ground black pepper, and mixed with fennel buds from Mountain Sweet Berry Farm
• the wine was a French (Côtes de Provence) rosé, Rosé Chateau des Muraires Seduction 2015, from Garnet Wines
• the music was Mark Anfre’s ‘…auf…’, Sylvain Cambreling conducting the SWR Baden-Baden and the Freiburg Symphony Orchestra

We love mackerel, and I’ve cooked it often. These were definitely the biggest fillets I’ve ever grilled; I was grateful that we weren’t eating off of the 8-inch creamware plates I had used in the Providence house for years.

These large fillets were perfectly fresh, made a great presentation, especially since I got them to the plates without their coming apart (even the skin remained fully attached), and I managed to cook them to a perfect doneness.

It’s been a long time since I’d included the potato part of the basic recipe I’ve been using for years.  It was only after I had decided to do so that I realized I didn’t have any variety that would seem suitable for ‘twice-cooking’. I went with what I had, a dark blue sort-of-fingerling type.  They worked perfectly, tasted great, and looked pretty dramatic.

• two 8-ounce Spanish mackerel fillets from Pura Vida Seafood, washed, dried, brushed with olive oil, seasoned with salt and freshly-ground black pepper, pan grilled on both sides on top of a cast iron 2-burner plate over high heat for 7 minutes, skin side down first, removed and completed with a salsa consisting of 7 quartered Backyard Farms Maine ‘cocktail tomatoes’ from Whole Foods tossed with olive oil, wild brined capers which had been rinsed and drained, juice from a sweet local lemon from Fantastic Gardens of Long Island, salt, and pepper, and sprinkled with a mix of chopped lime basil and oregano from Lani’s Farm
• ten ounces of small-ish ‘blue potatoes’ (which are dark blue inside too, and stay so after cooking) from Norwich Meadows Farm, washed, scrubbed, boiled – unpeeled – until tender (about 15-20 minutes), drained, allowed to cool slightly before being cut into thirds, cooked, stirring occasionally, with a tablespoon of olive oil inside an already warmed tin-lined copper skillet, the flame immediately turned to high heat, until lightly browned in spots (that is, if you can tell), I’d say for about 5 minutes, the heat turned way down and one large clove of garlic from John D. Madura Farm added and cooked until crisp, or for about 3 more minutes, seasoned with Maldon sea salt and freshly-ground Tellicherry pepper
• the wine was a California (Lodi) rosé, Karen Birmingham Rose Lodi 2016, from Naked Wines
• the music was a portion of the multi-CD album, ‘Music of Morocco: Recorded by Paul Bowles, 1959‘; by way of explanation, immediately before dinner we had watched ‘Morocco’ the 1930 Josef von Sternberg classic, starring Gary Cooper, Marlene Dietrich, and Adolphe Menjou (and it was even far better than I had expected!)

Mackerel are not endangered, not expensive, very good for you, and very delicious.

After so many previous outings, how much more can I say about this great mackerel preparation? It’s Michael White’s very simple Sicilian-inspired recipe.  I can usually vary the tomatoes, depending on what may be available, and sometimes at the very end I sprinkle something on the top (last night, for the first time, a micro bronze fennel), but even more important is the freshness of the fish and my luck in getting the correct flame and timing the cooking right.

Tomatoes and eggplant too: not endangered, not expensive, very good for you, and very delicious.

I love grilling somewhat larger eggplant, but I always smile when I spot ‘fairy tale’ eggplant (a name I’ve usually shortened to ‘fairy eggplant’) in the Greenmarket. They have the disadvantage of not lending themselves to being scored before grilling, but they have the advantage of not lending themselves to being scored before grilling (scoring takes a little more time, but only a little more time). Both larger and smaller eggplant can be combined with another vegetable, and tomato is a natural, but I kept it simple this time.

 

 

• four 3 to 4-ounce Spanish mackerel fillets from Blue Moon Fish, washed, dried, brushed with olive oil, seasoned with salt and pepper, pan grilled over high heat for 6 or 7 minutes, turning once (the skin side down first), removed and completed with a salsa consisting of 1/2-inch diced heirloom tomatoes from Norwich Meadows Farm tossed with olive oil, wild brined capers which had been rinsed and drained, juice from small Limoneira lemon from Trader Joe’s, salt, and pepper, and sprinkled with ‘micro bronze fennel’ from Two Guys from Woodbridge
• several handfuls of fairy tale eggplant from Stokes Farm, sliced in half, tossed with oil, chopped young (juicy) garlic from Alewife Farm, salt, pepper, fresh budding oregano from Stokes Farm, grilled on a large ribbed cast-iron pan and garnished with more of the oregano
• the wine was an Italian (Sicilian) white, Catarratto Bosco Falconieria 2013, produced by Bosco Falconeria, from Astor Wines
• the music was Antonio Vivaldi’s opera, ‘Tito Manlio’, performed by  the Accademia Bizantina, directed by Ottavio Dantone

Once again, a great fish, and a superb recipe, this pan-grilled mackerel manages to taste a little different each time I prepare it, and this one may have been the most delicious ever. The only substantive difference I brought to it was the late addition of milkweed buds.

 

I think the tomatoes really were ‘The Best Cherry Tomatoes’, at least among the crops available in the season so far.

 

The small early okra were also delicious, but, probably for the first time, without the slight crispiness that makes them really sing, since I had to crowd the pods in a pan a little smaller than ideal. The exigency of the 2-burner grill pan I used for the fish meant I didn’t have enough space for the 13″+ cast iron pan I would usually have used.

 

• five Spanish mackerel filets (totaling 13 or 14 ounces) from Blue Moon Fish Company, washed, dried, brushed with olive oil, seasoned with salt and pepper, pan grilled over high heat for a total of about 6 minutes, skin side down first, then turning once, transferred to plates, topped with a salsa of halved cherry tomatoes from Stokes Farm which had been tossed with olive oil, wild capers in brine which had been rinsed and drained, some organic lemon juice, salt, and pepper, some milkweed buds from Down Home Acres (in Unadilla, N.Y.) scattered on and around the fish and the salsa
• about half a pound of okra from Kernan Farms, sautéed in olive oil along with crushed dried chiles in a long oval copper pan over a high flame, then seasoned with salt
• the wine was a California (Lodi) white, S + A Verdelho Calveras County 2014 [the link is to the 2014 vintage]
• the music was a beautiful performance of early eighteenth-century concerti, the album, ‘Concerts & Follies In Pergolesi’s Time‘

This is a pretty tasty way to serve mackerel, Michael White’s very simple Sicilian-inspired recipe, and it’s a pretty simple process, which may help explain why I still haven’t come up with many alternatives for this wonderful fish, except for the time I tried an excellent one by Gordon Ramsey.

• Boston mackerel (seven 2-ounce filets) from Blue Moon Fish Company, washed, dried, brushed with olive oil, seasoned with salt and pepper, pan grilled over high heat for five or six minutes, turning once, transferred to plates and topped with a salsa of quartered Backyard Farms Maine ‘cocktail tomatoes’ from Whole Foods, which had been tossed with olive oil, wild capers in brine which had been rinsed and drained, some organic lemon juice, salt, and pepper
• about half a pound of a mix of potatoes, mostly Yukon Gold from Whole Foods, and one Red Norland from Lucky Dog Organic, boiled until tender, drained, cooled slightly, cut into quarters, placed in a skillet and cooked over high heat for about 5 minutes (or, ideally, until the potatoes had just begun to brown, but the tubers had been boiled too long this time, or had cooled too long, and so were unable to), one medium clove of thinly-sliced garlic from Whole Foods added, the heat turned down, the potatoes cooked slowly until they had (or might have) browned fully, about 3 minutes longer, seasoned with salt and pepper and kept warm until the fish had been cooked
• a few tender collard greens from Lani’s Farm, washed, drained, and braised very lightly in a heavy pot in which two halved garlic cloves from Whole Foods had been allowed to sweat in some olive oil, the dish finished with salt, pepper, and a drizzle of olive oil
• the wine was a French (Rhône) white, E. Guigal Côtes du Rhône 2014
• the music was from the album, ‘William Lawes: Royall Consort Suites‘, with Monica Huggett conducting the Ensemble Sonnerie