The first mackerel of spring

The swallows have been back for almost a month now. They arrived only a few days after the wind started blowing from the south. They’ve been busy renovating their nest in the garage and I love the way they make clicks as part of their call. They are like airborne dolphins swooping around the house, gobbling insects on the wing.

I’ve had to wait a little longer for the arrival of another spring migrant – the mackerel. They tend to arrive in the Channel in mid-April but it was only last week that they showed up on the slab at Terry's, the fishmongers in Lewes.



Two Sussex mackerel

Mackerel

Several cookery writers (Nigel Slater, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall..) say mackerel is one of their favourite fish, and I used to be slightly ashamed that I didn’t feel the same way. Grilled mackerel, with nothing added, just doesn’t do it for me. However, now I’ve been experimenting with the fish a little I can see why it is so well loved: it works really well with strong flavours.

I cooked these two using the recipe in Slater's The Kitchen Diaries for mackerel with cumin and lemon. The contrast between the earthy cumin, the sour lemon and the oily mackerel made for a very tasty supper. Another simple way to cook a whole mackerel is to slash it, smear it with harissa, and grill it for a few minutes on each side.



One cooked Sussex mackerel

Did you read about mackerel being taken off the list of sustainable fish? Apparently, they’ve been over-fishing them off Iceland. The Marine Conservation Society, a charity which monitors this sort of thing, says you should make sure your mackerel is caught locally using traditional fishing methods.

Sussex credentials: Very good. These mackerel were caught off the Sussex coast.

Availability: You can buy locally-caught mackerel from Terry's in Lewes.