Pepper-crusted Spanish mackerel with celeriac + salmon roe mayonnaise

Name: Pepper-crusted Spanish mackerel with celeriac + salmon roe mayonnaise
Yield: Serves 6
Ingredients: olive oil, for pan-frying; 2 large celeriac,* cut into thin strips; 1 clove garlic, chopped; 100 g salmon roe; 1 tablespoon fennel seeds, finely ground; 1 tablespoon coriander seeds, finely ground; 2 tablespoons cracked black peppercorns; 200 ml light olive oil; salt, to taste, depending on saltiness of roe; 1 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper; 2 tablespoons water; 2 tablespoons strained lemon juice; 6 x 200 g steaks Spanish mackerel,* skin on

Preparation info

Serves
6

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Wild Weed Pie

By Janni Kyritsis and Roberta Muir

Published 2006

About

The first time I put this dish on the menu, I called it ‘Pepper Steak of Mackerel’, a play on the classic pepper steak. It created some debate as to whether a piece of fish can be called a ‘steak’. According to my fishmonger, a ‘fillet’ is the whole side of a fish cut off the bone, a ‘cutlet’ is a piece of fish cut through the backbone so that it contains the bone, and a ‘steak’ is a piece cut from a fillet, usually from a large fish such as kingfish, swordfish, marlin or mackerel.