Mustardy mackerel, spinach and spuds

Every week I face the battle of the fish dish. My girls like salmon with peri-peri seasoning and my youngest would eat that every week if I let her and my husband loves fish but hates the smell of the kitchen/house after we have cooked it and so each week I try to find a balance for variety and also burn a lot of candles to freshen up the house so everyone is happy.

This week I was scouring through my cook books and came across Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s Mustardy mackerel recipe. It is so quick to pull together as the only cooking element is boiling the new potatoes for 7-10 minutes then an additional 5 minutes to flake in the mackerel and wilt the spinach and Bob’s your uncle, the dish is on the table. My girls did not want to add the dressing and so I added a little sea salt and butter to theirs but I have to say the mustard dressing on the potatoes was lovely so much so that there was none left at the end of the meal.

Ingredients

Serves 4

• 800g New potatoes cut into bite-sized chunks
• 150g Baby leaf spinach
• 3 Medium smoked mackerel fillets
• 1/2 Lemon juice
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
  
  Dressing Ingredients
• 3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 Tbsp Cider vinegar
• 1 Tsp English mustard
• 1 Tsp Wholegrain mustard
• 1/4 Clove crushed garlic
• Pinch Salt and pepper

Method

1. Put the potatoes in a saucepan, cover with water and add a pinch of salt then bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 7 – 10 minutes, until just tender.
2. Put all the dressing ingredients in a jar and shake to emulsify.
3. When the potatoes are cooked, drain them well and return them to the pan.
4. Flake the smoked salmon off the skin (checking for bones) straight into the pan. Squeeze over the lemon juice and add three-quarters of the spinach leaves. Toss well together again so the leaves are gently wilted by the heat.
5. Divide between bowls and scatter over the remaining spinach leaves. Drizzle dressing per taste, as I said my girls only wanted a little butter and salt and it still tasted amazing, leaving more dressing for me!