Tana Ramsay’s Real Family Food: Delicious Recipes for Everyday Occasions

Prep time: 45 minutes

Cooking time: 30 minutes

mackerel salad with beetroot and horseradish dressing (#ulink_f151d013-d501-5413-b3d0-f442c11b0bd9)

Mackerel is cheap, very nutritious and quick to cook. This recipe is for fresh mackerel but I have cooked it with smoked mackerel fillets (which can be bought in any supermarket) and it has tasted delicious too. Beetroot can be bought ready-cooked but be careful not to buy the type doused in malt vinegar.

100g/4oz cooked beetroot

1 tbsp horseradish sauce

50ml/1¾fl oz half-fat crème fraîche

3 tbsp olive oil

salt and pepper

2 mackerel, filleted

oakleaf lettuce mixed with Swiss chard (or other similar reddish salad leaves)

1 Put the beetroot, horseradish and crème fraîche into the food processor and pulse until smooth. Add the olive oil and pulse again. Season with pepper and a little salt and put to one side.

2 Preheat the grill to hot.

3 Take the mackerel fillets and slash the skin side 3 or 4 times with a sharp knife. Lay on a lightly greased baking tray, skin side up. Put under the grill for 2–3 minutes until cooked through.

4 Arrange the salad leaves on 2 plates. Carefully place 2 fillets on top of each plate of salad before drizzling with the beetroot dressing. Serve with plenty of crusty brown bread.

Serves: 2

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 2–3 minutes

warm potato, chorizo and parsley salad (#ulink_39f7e62b-e5c9-5cd8-9402-0547179f778e)

The key to this salad is to treat the parsley as an equally important ingredient, rather than just a garnish. This also works wonderfully as part of a barbecue