Today is the start of Seafood Week, a week long celebration of everything that comes from the sea. This week, why not try something you wouldn’t have tried before? Seafood Week 2019 runs from the 4th-11th October.

Lauren recently went on a foodie journey through some of the nicest restaurants in Torquay tasting some of the lovely offerings (read our Seafood Quest post here) and this week we’re delivering to you some choice recipes from some of Exeter’s best loved seafood restaurants.

Our first recipe is courtesy of The Galley restaurant in Topsham. Photos by Nick Hook

Mackerel with Horseradish Cream, Burnt Apple Puree and Kohlrabi Slaw

With shimmering tones of silver, gold, blue and amber, mackerel looks like it has swum straight through the ocean and hopped onto our counter. Ours is line-caught down the bay in Brixham; you can practically hear their Devon accents.

Look for mackerel that is still stiff and ideally folded in two. Fresh mackerel has a subtle smell of the sea – not at all strong and ‘fishy’. It’s quite an easy fish to pin bone yourself, as the larger bones appear in a neat ‘V’ area that you can remove. Or ask your fishmonger to do the honours so you can get immediately stuck into cooking the dish.

Serves 4 as a starter

Horseradish cream

125ml double cream

25g good quality horseradish sauce

5g fresh grated horseradish

Burnt apple purée

500g Braeburn apples (peeled and diced into 1cm pieces)

100g caster sugar

50ml water

Kohlrabi slaw

1 kohlrabi – sliced as finely as possible into matchsticks

1/2 lemon

1 shallot

Mackerel

x4 mackerel fillets (ask your fishmonger to pin bone)

For the horseradish cream

Finely grate the horseradish root into a bowl, add the cream and horseradish sauce and set aside for 10 minutes. After the flavours have mingled, pass the cream mixture through a sieve to remove the bits, before whisking until soft peaks have formed. Chill until needed. (Note, this cream will last for three days happily in the fridge.)

For the apple purée

Add the sugar and water to a heavy based pan and leave on a low heat until you have a dark brown caramel and remove from the heat. Add the diced apple to the caramel with great care, as the pan is very hot! Stir the apples through the caramel and allow the mixture to cool slightly, then blend until smooth. Once cool, chill until needed. (Note, this apple purée will last happily in the fridge for 5-7 days.)

For the slaw

As finely as you can, slice the kohlrabi into matchsticks, slice the shallots lengthways into similar matchsticks and mix the two together in a bowl. Season lightly with salt and pepper and squeeze the lemon juice over them to make a loose dressing. Mix well and chill until needed. (Note, this mix will brown, so needs to be made 3-4 hours before needed.)

To cook the mackerel

Lay the fillets onto a flat baking tray and season both skin and flesh. Lightly oil and place under a hot grill skin side up for 3-4 minutes until the skin has begun to crisp and the mackerel is piping hot throughout, the flesh will be firm and white throughout.

To assemble

While the mackerel is cooking, dress your plates with your kohlrabi slaw, apple purée and horseradish cream. At The Galley in Topsham, we give each item its own space on the plate to allow the customer to try them individually before mixing them.