Slightly different mackerel

Bread making might return tomorrow, or sometime next week. With cold weather forecast, any excuse to have the oven on is a good one. This entry is just to note something new I did with mackerel tonight.

I medium mackerel (small would be better) gutted
1 quarter of a big red onion
salt & pepper

Marinade
juice of half a lemon
1 teaspoon grain mustard
half a teaspoon cumin seeds
2 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon olive oil
about 1 red chili, chopped (I used my frozen harvest)

Grind the marinade ingredients together in pestle and mortar till the cumin seeds are cracked. Coat inside and outside of the mackerel. Stuff the fish with the onion, season on both sides, then pour the remaining marinade over. Wrap in foil and bake at 190C for 20 minutes.

It's all pretty basic, but was the first time I'd used chili, and this was only because I'd no ginger. Using red onion was also a bit new.

The two benefits of this were the prettiness of the red onion. As it was barely cooked, it still had a pretty pink colour (which went well with the accompanying broad beans). And the heat of the chillies was strong but warming rather than violent.

I also stuck a sprig of rosemary in the gut of the fish, but I'm not sure it made any difference. My rosemary's a bit mild at this time of year.