Serves 2
To cook on a stake or spit you need
6 x 2-3 foot long wooden sticks – little finger thickness (soak in sea water briefly prior to cooking).
12 x 12 inch long wooden sticks, pencil thickness, sharpened to a point on one end.
3 foot thin wire or thick twine (soaked in water) cut into 6 pieces to secure.
Method
Method: Place each mackerel fillet be- tween 2 long sticks – running from tail
to head, one on the skin side, one on the flesh side.
Secure tightly at both ends with the wire/ twine. The fish should be held tight be- tween the 2 stakes.
Place the mackerel skin side down some- where clean and make 2-3 small incisions
(lining up) on each side, close to the edge through the flesh and skin.
To keep the fillet open, starting from the head end, run the small sticks – point first from the flesh to the skin, through the incision, behind the back of the long stake, and through the opposite incision in the skin to the flesh (flesh-skin, skin-flesh) Stake the mackerel vertically or at a slight angle in front of the fire, about 1- 2 feet away, making sure that the flames are not going to touch the fish.
The distance from the fire can be altered, depending on its size and heat.
Check the fish periodically. Due to the cooking method, exact times are not possible, but thanks to the same method it’s very easy to see when the flesh is cooked. The one downside is it’s hard to resist breaking off just cooked chunks of the lovely brown, smokey fish, but maybe that’s no bad thing!
For the Tapenade
Roughly chop the olives, sea purslane and nettle tops into a bowl, add the oil, anchovy, garlic, lentils, and lemon juice. Mix well
to serve
Place the mackerel fillets skin side down on a clean stone, wooden board or plate, serve with the tapenade and eat with your hands and spoons.
