Grilled fish with hot fruit and clove salsa

This simple, fresh salsa recipe brings a bit of zing to lovely grilled fish like red snapper, sardines or mackerel. Perhaps my favourite fish, mackerel is super cheap, but it needs to be really fresh for cooking.

• serves

  4

• prep

  15 minutes

• cook

  5 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• ¼ pineapple, chopped into small chunks
• 1 mango, preferably Alfonso, chopped into small chunks
• 1 large tomato, chopped into small chunks
• a few gratings of nutmeg
• 2 tsp ground cloves
• 1 tbsp golden caster or raw sugar
• 1 lemon, juiced, plus wedges to serve
• 4 mackerel, or 300 g snapper, or 12-16 small/medium sardines, cleaned and gutted
• olive oil
• 1 tsp ground allspice
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• lemon wedges, to serve

Instructions

In a bowl, toss the pineapple, mango and tomato with the nutmeg and 1 teaspoon of the ground cloves. Put to one side.

Put the sugar and 2 tablespoons of water into a saucepan over a medium heat for about 1 minute until you have a syrup. Add the fruit, stir once and take off the heat. Stir in the lemon juice and keep warm.

Heat a chargrill pan or barbecue until very hot (or preheat the grill to high). Season the fish, rub them in a little oil and sprinkle with the allspice, cinnamon and the remaining teaspoon of ground cloves. Grill for 2–3 minutes on each side until golden and cooked through.

Divide the fish among 4 serving plates and serve with the fruit salad and a wedge of lemon on each plate.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.