Warm Mackerel and Asparagus Salad

So after reading the title of this blog post you're probably conjuring up images of merely mackerel and asparagus tossed in a few iceburg lettuce leaves. Think again. When I was younger (and maybe still) I always wanted to open a soup and salad restaurant. In the summer I love making up my own salad recipes as it was a far lighter way to eat lunch rather than always bread-based food. However, in restaurants I always think that original salads are hard to find. Obviously you'd get your standard Caeser, Nicoise etc. etc. But I reckon I could give these big names a run for their money with this bad boy.

The joy of this salad, and in fact virtually any salad, is that you can chuck in whatever is left in your fridge. You all know about my unconditional love for Mackerel (check out my homemade pate recipe). It's so healthy and delicious and even scrummier when chucked in the oven for a few minutes to heat up (although I would recommend shutting all kitchen doors- the smell is rather pungent.)

Now I'm home from uni my fridge is brimming with food which is probably one of the best sights possible, especially seeing as regularly at uni I would open my fridge to find half a solitary rotting lime. So after opening all doors and cupboards of my kitchen and ransacking my fridge, I was quite content with my final ingredients for my super warm super good salad:

Handful of cherry tomatoes
Leftover Mushrooms
4 Asparagus
1 cooked Smoked Mackerel
Handful of rocket salad
1 shallot
1 deseeded chilli

It was destined to be a beautiful food love affair.

To start off, cut those little tomatoes into quarters, chuck them in an oven-suitable pan, soak them in oil, a bit of garlic salt and basil and let them grill in the oven with the Mackerel for literally about 7 minutes (until the juices start to run and the skins start shrivelling up).

Next, cut up all your ingredients: tomatoes, mushrooms, asparagus, shallot and chilli and bung that all into a non-stick frying pan and let it do it's magic for about 7 minutes.

Take the Mackerel out after about 5 minutes, leaving the tomatoes in for a couple extra, take the skin off and cut it (very roughly) into small chunks.

Toss the salad, adding the Mackerel and then the tomatoes, letting the juices seep in. When the rest of your ingredients are ready, mix it all in a big bowl before serving it up. Just divine!

What I love about this salad is it's so colourful and exciting. You know that you're eating pure goodness when a rainbow salad appears. Enjoy and don't be afraid to experiment with different ingredients!

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