Serves 4
Ingredients
Mackerel
1 Breton mackerel, 500-600g
100g coarse sea salt
100g fine sea salt
Olive oil, white pepper and sea salt from the grinder for marinating
Cretan salad
40g red bell peppers
40g green pointed peppers
½ cucumber
25g white onions
4 cherry tomatoes
4 Kalamata olives
Clear tomato broth
8 vine-ripened tomatoes
1 small sprig of oregano
Spice bag containing 2 juniper berries, 4 white peppercorns and 1 star anise
A little bit of white balsamic
Sea salt
Tabasco
Xanthan
Feta ‘snow’ and cubes
120g feta cheese brine
90g feta cheese
30g milk
Salt
Dakos
20g dakos bread (dried rusk-like barley bread from greece)
Water mixed with sea salt
1tbsp cretan olive oil
1tbsp red wine vinegar
Oregano
10g fresh oregano
Method
Mackerel
Gut, clean and fillet the mackerel, then pat dry. Mix the salts and spread over a metal plate. Place the fillets with the flesh face down on the salt – do not allow the salt to touch the skin. Allow to marinade for 40-45 minutes and then rinse the salt off with cold water. Place the fillet with the flesh side down, on a perforated metal plate. Pour scalding hot water over the skin and pat dry. Slice each fillet into four slices of 10cm length and 1cm width. Store the fillet slices in olive oil with the skin side up. Shortly before serving, pat dry the flesh side of the fillet slices and season with salt and pepper.
Cretan salad
Cut the red pepper into dice of 1cm x 1cm. Slice the green pepper into fine slices of 2.5cm x 0.2cm. Slice the white onion into fine slices of 2.5cm x 0.2cm. Peel the cucumber and cut the peel into fine cubes. Slice the peeled cucumber into 0.5cm thick slices. Cut out the core of every cucumber slice into rounds of 2cm diameter, and halve them. Dice the cucumber flesh into 0.5cm x 0.5cm cubes. Chill. Halve the olives and slice them. Remove the seeds from the cherry tomatoes and cut the flesh into little triangles. Store every ingredient separately in the chiller. To serve, stir and season all ingredients together.
Clear tomato broth
Wash the tomatoes, remove the stems, chop and mix. Bring to the boil and add the oregano and bag of spices, and allow to simmer. Afterwards, hang up to strain through a cloth strainer and collect the clear tomato broth. After 3-4 hours, season the clear tomato broth with sea salt and a dash of tabasco. Bind it with xanthan. Vacuum the chilled tomato broth so that any air bubbles disappear.
Feta ‘snow’ and cubes
Crumble 40g of the feta cheese into cube-like pieces. Mix the brine with the rest of the cheese, the milk and the salt, season and strain it through a fine sieve. Put it into the pacojet and freeze at -40°c. Before serving, pacotize the frozen feta twice to produce the feta ‘snow’.
Dakos
Break the dakos into small cubes and sprinkle with the salt water. Stir together with the olive oil and vinegar.
Oregano
Pick off 12 small leaves and store them in a wet paper towel for the garnish. Pick the rest, put them on a paper towel and dry in the microwave. Pass it through a sieve so as to form a powder, and store it in a closed container. Season the cretan salad with the oregano powder before serving.
To serve
On each plate, place a fillet of mackerel with both dark and light skin if possible. Arrange the seasoned salad ingredients and the oregano leaves between the fillets. Coat the salad with the gelatinized tomato broth. Combine the dakos and the cubes of feta cheese and arrange on the left side of the plate, next to the salad. Shortly before serving, add the frozen feta ‘snow’ and sprinkle with olive oil.
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