Stuffed mackerel - general principles of cooking
If you want to save money from the family budget, you can do it on your diet. This is not about switching to porridge and broth from the bones, but about including fish dishes in your diet. Most of the varieties of fish are much cheaper than meat and by purchasing it frozen, you can save a lot of money.
In addition, fish is healthier than meat, because it contains important fats and a huge amount of protein. In this article, we offer you several recipes for stuffed mackerel. Mackerel is a white fatty fish that will be delicious, no matter how you prepare it.
The nutritional properties of mackerel is not inferior to expensive salmon varieties. Try stuffing mackerel with a delicious filling, and you will get an incredible dish! Vegetables are most often used for the filling, but you can experiment with the addition of dried fruits and various spices.
Stuffed mackerel can be prepared in several ways. The most delicious fish will be, if you bake it on the grill. However, not every housewife has such an opportunity. Nothing wrong! You can use a conventional oven or a slow cooker.
Stuffed mackerel - preparing food and dishes
If you decide to cook stuffed mackerel, then you need to start cooking with the order to prepare the fish. If your mackerel is frozen, you need to completely defrost it, then remove the fins, you do not need to cut off your head and tail. From the carcass, remove the gills, the insides, and the black film that covers the cavity of the fish. If this is not done, then ready mackerel will taste bitter.
How to get bones and ridge? Cut it with scissors at the head and tail, and pull out, selecting also the bones.
For the implementation of some recipes you will need one and a half fish - you will stuff one, and the half will be useful as an integral part of the filling. The second part of the fish should be cut in any way convenient for you, leaving only the filet part. What else will be in the filling? It can be vegetables, cheese, mushrooms, prunes. Fish is best cooked in the oven, baking it on the deck. But if you have a convection oven or a slow cooker, you can use these “helpers”. In the slow cooker you need to select the “Baking” or “Baking” mode and cook stuffed mackerel for 40-50 minutes. In the conveying oven, set the temperature at 200 degrees and place the fish on the bottom grill. Bake 35-40 minutes.
In the oven, the fish must be baked for 40 minutes at a temperature of 170-180 degrees. It is best to wrap it in foil, so stuffed mackerel will be juicier. 10 minutes before the readiness, unfold the foil, then the fish will be covered with a delicious crispy crust.
Stuffed mackerel recipes:
Recipe 1: Stuffed Mackerel with Vegetables
Such a dish will cost you quite cheap, but it will turn out incredibly tasty. You can cook fish for both regular dinner and holiday table.
Ingredients Required:
- Mackerel - 1 1/2 fish
- Carrots - 2 pieces
- Onion - 1 piece
- Butter for frying
- Spices
Preparation Method:
- Prepare the fish. Salt and pepper part of mackerel and set aside. Cut the other half into small cubes.
- Prepare the vegetable filling. To do this, finely chop the onion and rub the carrots. Heated the frying pan, and smeared it with oil, fry the vegetables.
- Mix the prepared vegetables with chopped fillets, salt and refrigerate for an hour in a closed container.
- In the part of the fish that we will bake, we place the filling. We spread the stuffed mackerel on the deck. We bake it for about an hour.
- Fill the fish with warm marinade, and when it cools, put the mackerel in the refrigerator for 10-12 hours.
Recipe 2: Stuffed Mackerel with Mushrooms
Preparing mackerel for this recipe, you get a delicious and very satisfying dish.
Ingredients Required:
- Mushrooms (any) - 300 grams
- Mackerel - 1 bird
- Onions - 2 pieces
- Spices
- Salt
Preparation Method:
- Prepare the fish.
- Prepare the filling. To do this, finely chop the mushrooms, chop the onion. Fry the onion first, then add the mushrooms. It is necessary to fry vegetables until all the water leaves the vegetables. Salt it. Allow the filling to cool.
- Place the fried mushrooms in the mackerel carcass, then bake it in the oven.
Recipe 3: Stuffed Mackerel with Cheese
A delicious cheese platter that you will surely enjoy. Take two fish and any kind of cheese, best salted.
Ingredients Required:
- Mackerel - 1-1 / 2 carcasses
- Cheese of any salty variety - 300 grams
- Spices
- Hops-suneli
Preparation Method:
- Divide the fish carcass into two parts: for stuffing and for the filling.
- Grate grated cheese, mix with chopped mackerel fillet and spices. Place the mixture in the refrigerator for an hour, then stuff the carcass. Bake the fish in the oven, wrapped in foil.
Recipe 4: Stuffed Mackerel with Prunes
This recipe is often used by cooks of Catalonia. Try this stuffed mackerel too.
Ingredients Required:
- Fish - 1 1/2 carcasses
- Prunes - 150 grams
- Sour cream
- Salted hard cheese - 150 grams
- Walnut - 1/2 cup
- Salt
Preparation Method:
- Prepare the carcass: cut it into two pieces.
- Pour the prunes with hot water for 15 minutes, then dry it on a napkin and chop it into strips.
- Rub the cheese on a coarse grater.
- Cut half the mackerel carcass into cubes.
- Mix the cheese, fish fillet, sour cream and prunes, stuff the mackerel with this mixture.
- Wrap the mackerel in foil and bake in the oven.
- Ten minutes before readiness, open the foil and sprinkle the fish with crushed walnuts.
Recipe 5: Stuffed Mackerel with Eggplant and Basil
Another original recipe that you’ll definitely like. You will need eggplant, fresh basil and dried tomato. Ingredients Required:
- Mackerel - 1 bird
- Eggplant - 1/2 pieces
- Dried tomatoes - 1/2 cup
- Sour cream
- Fresh basil
- Spices
Preparation Method:
- Prepare the mackerel.
- Cut the eggplant into thin strips, then stew with a piece of butter on low heat for 10 minutes.
- Mix cooled eggplant with tomatoes, sour cream and chopped basil. Stuff the mackerel with the mixture and bake the fish in the oven, after wrapping it in foil.
Stuffed mackerel - secrets and useful tips from the best chefs
- Why do I need to put the mixture for stuffing in the fridge? So the ingredients are better soaked and become one, which will make the taste of the finished dish rich and harmonious.
- Try making stuffed mackerel with lemon. The fish will be very “interesting” to taste, as sour lemon will make fatty white meat more tender and light.
- If you have a frozen carcass, and you need to prepare fish urgently, what should you do? Put the mackerel in a bag of water. So the fish will thaw faster, and you can cut it.
- Such a mixture of carrots with onions and canned peas, olives and capers with stewed eggplant, cheese with sour cream and olives can also act as “mince”. You can add raisins and dried apricots to vegetables, which will make the taste of the finished fish deeper .
- Don't forget about the spices! Dried basil, parsley, dill, hops suneli, basil, white and black pepper. To make the stuffed mackerel more tasty, you can rub the inside of the fish with salt and spices.
