Grilled mackerel with beetroot and new potato salad

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Monica Shaw’s colourful grilled mackerel recipe offers a slice of summer, pairing the fish with a glorious salad made from new potatoes and sweet, earthy beetroot. The beautifully mild nuttiness of the potatoes makes an ideal salad, with plenty of zingy additions to cut through the richness of the mackerel.

First published in 2015

Potato salad. It's ubiquitous at pot-lucks, picnics and barbecues, but so rarely memorable. But here is a potato salad that’s poised to change of all that.

In this potato salad I employ beetroot to add a sweet dimension to the earthy potatoes. Meanwhile, a light dressing of oil, sherry vinegar and yoghurt give the salad a punchy zing and satisfying creaminess without the mayo-laden effect that most potato salads seem to suffer from.

Add a little celery for crunch and minced chives because they’re delicious, and you have a sweet and tart potato salad that is the perfect compliment to grilled mackerel. As such, this recipe is ideal summer barbecues, but it’s equally comforting in cooler months when hearty rich food is the call of the day.

I use Blas y Tir Pembrokeshire Early Potatoes for this, which have a nice fine skin and a nutty flavour that works well for potato salads. This potato salad is especially good the next day, after the flavours have had a chance to mingle and the potato has absorbed some of the dressing.

Ingredients

Metric

Imperial

Mackerel fillets

Beetroot and new potato salad

Method

1
Steam the potatoes and beetroot for 15-30 minutes. Time will vary depending on the size of your beetroot and potatoes, so check them regularly and remove when a knife or skewer can easily be driven through them). When ready, remove from the heat
2
When cool enough to handle, peel the beetroot (you can leave the skins of the potatoes on) then chop the beetroot and potatoes into small pieces
3
Combine the potato and beetroot in a bowl with the celery, onion, hard-boiled eggs and chives
4
To make the dressing, simply whisk together the vinegar, mustard, olive oil and yoghurt. Toss the dressing with the vegetables, season with salt and pepper and set aside
5
Lightly oil the mackerel and season with salt and pepper. Grill on an outdoor barbecue or griddle pan skin-side down until the skin is nicely charred and the fish is fully cooked (this shouldn’t take long)
6
Serve the mackerel on a bed of salad leaves with a helping of the potato and beetroot salad

Monica Shaw's mission is to enable people to feel awesome, through food, life, work and play.

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