White fish 'tarator'

Ingredients

• 2 fillets Spanish mackerel, skin on (about 200 g each)
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• salt, to taste
• 1 tbsp roughly chopped toasted walnuts
• ¼ cup finely shredded coriander
• ¼ cup finely shredded mint
• ½ small red onion, finely minced
• 1 bird’s eye chilli, thinly sliced
• ground black pepper and lemon wedges, to serve

Tarator

• 130 g (½ cup) thick plain yoghurt
• 2 tbsp tahini
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• ½ tsp honey

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 220°C.
2. Heat an oven–proof frying pan over medium heat and season the skin of the mackerel with salt. Add the oil to the pan and cook the fish, skin-down for 2 minutes with a fish weight on top. Remove the weight from the top and transfer to the oven for 4 minutes. Remove the fish from the oven, take out of the pan and set aside to rest.
3. Meanwhile, for the tarator, combine all the ingredients in a bowl and season to taste.
4. In a separate bowl, combine the walnuts, herbs, onion and chilli.
5. Spread the tarator on each serving plate. Top with the fish and a grind of black pepper, then scatter with the herb mixture and serve immediately with lemon wedges on the side.

Photography by Adam Liaw.

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