Food Riot

Dig this healthy, fishy, fruity quickie. I have had this for lunch and as a starter when we had dinner guests.  Its cheap and dead simple to prepare, so if you are broke and properly lazy, yet keen to impress not only yourself but your friends too, give it a go.

You’ll be surprised at how well these disparate ingredients get along – perhaps Mr Obama should serve this if he wants everlasting peace in the Middle East. He’ll have to leave out the rocket though because I can see a few people taking that ingredient the wrong way and walking out in a huff. Perhaps he should call it roquette…. Send me your suggestions on how we can rename this threatening sounding salad leaf.

Recipe

• Some smoked, peppered mackerel - shredded into biggish chunks
• Some rocket - cut off the warhead and the fins, remove any spacemen
• Some sliced mango - leave falling out of the tree to Brazilians named Rodriguez
• Some balsamic glaze - or reduction if you can be bothered
• A Lemon - a wedge per serving.

Method

• Shred the mackerel – throw away the skin
• Slice the peeled mango into nice, elegant, sexy long pieces about 5.015453mm thick
• Get some rocket, put it on a plate
• Arrange the mango slices on top of the rocket in an artistic fan, a regimented line or any other pattern that so happens to enter your head
• Top the mango slices with shredded mackerel
• Squirt the balsamic glaze in a cheffy looking pattern over and around the whole lot
• Add a wedge of lemon
• Pray that those who you are sharing the above with hate the idea of fish and fruit so you can have theirs too.

As a variant, try the above with sliced pear or apple instead of mango. give them a squirt of lemon juice straight after slicing to stop them oxidising and going brown.