Recipe: sourdough toast with smoked mackerel rillettes and pickled vegetables
For authentic rillettes, pork is braised until it can easily be pulled apart. For this version with smoked mackerel, that isn’t even necessary; you can simply pick the fish straight from the bones. Not very authentic, but one of the tastiest ways to eat smoked mackerel. Add a generous spoonful of piccalilly, preferably homemade, and leave it at that.
How to make it
- Melt the duck fat in a saucepan over low heat. Turn off the heat as soon as the fat has melted. Meanwhile, use two forks to pull the smoked mackerel fillets into small pieces. Finely chop the shallot. Finely chop the flat-leaf parsley and capers. Squeeze the lemon.
- Mix the mackerel with the shallot, parsley, capers, lemon juice, coriander seeds and cayenne pepper. Stir in the melted duck fat, reserving about 2 tablespoons of the fat. Season with salt and pepper. Spoon the rillettes into a sealable jar and pour the remaining duck fat over the top. Leave to set in the refrigerator for about 2 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 180°C. Cut 4 slices of bread, about 1.5 centimetres thick, and drizzle with the olive oil. Bake the slices in the oven for about 8 minutes until golden brown and crisp; turn them halfway through the baking time. Cut the sourdough toast diagonally in half and serve with the mackerel rillettes, pickled pearl onions and piccalilly.
How to make the piccalilly
Roughly chop 500 g of vegetables (e.g. green beans, cauliflower, cucumber) and sprinkle with 1½ tbsp salt. Leave to rest in the refrigerator for about 1 day. Rinse the vegetables and leave to drain. Bring 300 ml vinegar with 75 g sugar and 1½ tbsp honey to the boil. Grind 1 tbsp mustard seeds with ½ tsp cumin seeds and ½ tsp coriander seeds finely in a mortar. Stir the spices into the vinegar mixture and cook for about 5 minutes. Mix the sauce into the vegetables. Divide the piccalilly between 2 sterilised jars and leave to cool upside down. The piccalilly will be ready to use after about 6 weeks.
Wine tip
Delicious: enjoy a lovely glass of Chardonnay with it! But make it a full-bodied Chardonnay that is also fresh, because the wine needs a little acidity to counterbalance this dish. Such as the Principe de Viana Chardonnay Barrel Fermented from Spain’s Navarra. With a softly buttery start and gradually more pronounced acidity, it’s a real crowd-pleaser.
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