Smoked mackerel, orange and beetroot salad recipe

Details

• Cuisine: British
• Recipe Type: Salad
• Difficulty: Easy
• Preparation Time: 20 mins
• Cooking Time: 40 mins
• Serves: 4

Step-by-step

1. Put the beetroot in a large saucepan with the lemon juice and a good pinch of salt. Bring the water to the boil over a high heat, then reduce the heat and simmer for 35–40 minutes, or until tender throughout and a knife can be inserted easily.
2. Meanwhile, after the beetroot has been cooking for 20 minutes, start cooking the potatoes. Put them in a saucepan of cold, salted water over a high heat. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer gently for 10–12 minutes.
3. Remove the skin from the mackerel fillets, then cut away a lengthways strip down the middle of the fillets to remove the pin bones and a small amount of the flesh. Put to one side.
4. Using a sharp knife, cut a thin slice of peel and pith from one end of each orange. Put, cut side down, in a shallow bowl and cut off the peel and pith in strips. Remove any remaining pith.
5. Cut out each orange segment, leaving the membrane behind. Squeeze the remaining juice from the membrane into the bowl.
6. Whisk the olive oil and mustard into the orange juice. Season, going easy on the salt, as the mackerel will be salty.
7. When the beetroot is cooked, scrape off the skin using a knife, then slice thinly.
8. Drain the potatoes and tip them back into the warm pan. Drizzle with a little of the orange dressing.
9. Put the watercress in a bowl and remove any thick stems. Tear in the basil leaves. Add a tablespoon of the dressing and toss the leaves to coat them lightly in the dressing.
10. Lay the warm potato and beetroot slices on a platter. Scatter over the dressed leaves and orange segments. Flake the mackerel into large chunks over the top and finish by drizzling with a little more dressing. Serve any remaining dressing on the side.

This recipe is from The Hidden Hut by Simon Stallard. Published by Harper Collins, £20, out now.