OVERVIEW
Mackerel is great at standing up to big, bold flavours like this chermoula — a kind of North African salsa. The result is beautiful, unctuous and aromatic. Serve as a starter with a hunk of bread to mop up the juices, or as a main course with roasted new potatoes or couscous.
SET UP YOUR EGG
Start by soaking an Alder Cooking Plank and a handful of Hickory Premium Woodchips – they can sit in water for anything from an hour to overnight.
Set up your EGG for direct cooking with a Half Moon Cast Iron Searing Grid in place if you have one (this will make it easier for you to dirty cook the beetroot) or the Stainless Steel Grid if you don’t. Target temperature is 220˚C. When we add our fish later, the temperature will come down to about 200˚C, which is exactly where we want to be.
DIRTY COOK THE BEETS
Add the beets directly to the coals. If they’re fresh, baby-sized ones, place them towards the outer edge. The bigger the beetroot, the closer to the glowing centre it should be.
Cooking for 18-20 minutes. You want them softened yet still retaining a firm feel, so really big beetroots could take up to 30 minutes.
MAKE THE CHERMOULA
While the beets cook, start making your chermoula. Finely chop your garlic, coriander and chilli. Add to a large mixing bowl with the cumin, cayenne, paprika, a healthy squeeze of lemon juice, the olive oil, rose water, preserved lemon and vinegar. Season with coarse sea salt and give it all a stir.
Spoon a generous amount of the chermoula onto the flesh side of one of the mackerel fillets then press it down into the flesh. Fold the second fillet over onto the first to sandwich the chermoula inside the fish. Repeat with the second mackerel.
Place the fish gently onto your soaked Alder Cooking Plank.
SMOKE THE FISH
Pluck the beetroots out of the EGG and add the soaked woodchips to the coals. Now, add the mackerel on the board directly onto the grid. Close the Dome and leave for 8-10 minutes.
We want to tap into the smoky flavour of the beetroots as much as possible, so if you’re using small, fresh ones, don’t bother peeling them. If your beets are a bit bigger, wash them in cold water while rubbing the skin away with your hands. Dice roughly, then add to a mixing bowl. Dress with a little more of the chermoula.
Your mackerel should be done by now. You’ll know for sure by using a probe: you’re looking for an internal temperature of 45˚C. Plate up using a fish slice, spooning on a healthy amount of the Moroccan beets.
