Mackerel with lemon butter sauce
The fish is neither fried nor steamed. It's poached in olive oil. The mouth feel is fantastic. For flavor, Italian-style lemon butter sauce is poured over the fish before serving.
Servings 4 people
Ingredients
- 2 to 4 mackerel (about one kilogram / 2.2 pounds in total weight) scaled and gutted
- salt
- pepper
- olive oil not extra virgin
Lemon butter sauce
- ¼ cup white wine vinegar
- 6 cloves garlic smashed
- ½ cup melted butter
- salt to taste
- pepper to taste
- lemon juice to taste
To serve
- lemon slices
- mint leaves
Instructions
Poach the fish
- Rinse the fish well then pat dry with a kitchen towel.
- Score both sides of the fish and rub generously with salt and pepper.
- In a wide shallow pan that can hold all the fish in a single layer, pour in enough olive oil to reach a depth of two inches.
- Heat the oil to 160F to 180F (see notes after the recipe).
- Lay the fish on the oil and cook for ten minutes per side.
Make the lemon butter sauce
- In a small non-reactive pan, heat the white wine vinegar with the garlic very gently over low heat for about a minute. Leave to infuse for a few minutes. Strain.
- Stir together the melted butter and strained white wine vinegar. Squeeze in the juice of half a lemon.
- Season with salt and pepper. Taste. Adjust the amount of lemon juice, salt, pepper or all of them, if needed.
Assemble the dish
- Lay the poached fish on a serving platter or individual plates.
- Drizzle sauce over the enter firsh.
- Arrange the lemon slices on top of the fish.
- Sprinkle with mint leaves.
