Grilled Mackerel with Couscous & Rocket and Spinach Salad

My Saturday night supper. Extremely satisfying.

I received a text from my friend, K, that morning, telling me how good rocket salad is. As if I needed any reminder of my admiration for rockets, that message prompted me to immediately hit CitySuper and swing my arms around the fresh rockets! Some baby spinach and herbs managed to squeeze their way into my arms too! Glad they did that, they came in really handy later that evening.

Rocket, also known as arugula, has a strong, distinct, peppery taste, with a slight hint of bitterness. Generally used in salads and sandwiches. Take it literally, rocket really does shape like a rocket, long and lean. Not everyone can stand its taste, people either hate it or love it.

Another ingredient I would like to introduce to you is Couscous. It is made out of semolina and water, rolled by hand to form small pellets and subsequently dried with flour and sieved to separate. Very popular in Morocco, Middle East, France and Turkey etc. I first tasted couscous in a Middle Eastern restaurant, it was served with a generous spoon of lamb stew, so good! Couscous itself does not have a lot of flavour, it is like rice, so to spice it up, I mixed in chopped mint, parsley and lemon juice.

I have received requests to include recipes here, so there you go! Please click Read More.

I may not be extremely clear about the measurements, especially for the seasoning, after all it depends on your personal taste. So be brave, rely on your intuition, you will know when is enough and when is not very naturally!

GRILLED MACKEREL
Ingredients
- 2 mackerel fillets, 3-4 minced garlic cloves, 3-4 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper, Japanese barbecue sauce (optional)
Preparation
1. Splash olive oil over the mackerel fillets. Rub in the salt, pepper and minced garlic.
2. Cook it on the grill pan, with the skin facing down. There is no need to add oil on the pan, the fillets are well covered with oil. Can't tell how long you have to cook it as the cooking time differs with fillets of different thickness.
3. Pour 2 tbs of the Japanese barbecue sauce over the fillets if you fancy the sweet flavour


MINT AND PARSLEY COUSCOUS
Ingredients
- 70g of couscous, boiled water, a handful of mint and parsley, chopped, a squeeze of lemon juice, a thin slice of butter
Preparation
1. Place the couscous in a bowl. Pour just enough boiling water to cover it. For better taste, you may use chicken stock or vegetable stock instead. Add in the thin slice of butter. Cover the bowl, set aside for 5-10 minutes and let it do its work.
2. Uncover, fluff it up with a fork. Mix in the chopped herbs and give the lemon a squeeze for its sharpness.


ROCKET AND SPINACH SALAD
Ingredients
- rockets, spinach, cherry tomatoes, extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper
Preparation
Hardly any. Mix everything together and top it with thin slices of Parmesean cheese. Enjoy!