At the start of the New Year, I like to clear out thecupboards, read up on some new recipes and give our daily meals a bit of anoverhaul. We all tend to have the best of intentions, don’t we, when a new yearbegins? And I have a fun and healthy recipe idea to share with you, incollaboration with Princes.
Having a well-stocked cupboard is really useful whenpreparing midweek meals and we always have some cans of tuna and some veggiestoo. But how about mackerel fillets? I really like mackerel, particularly insalads, but have never tried anything other than plain fillets. Princes has afull range of mackerel fillets in a variety of delicious sauces and I have beenexperimenting to come up with a tasty dish using their Mexican flavour.
I love Mexican food and mackerel is packed full of omega-3fatty acids and so good for you, so I had a lot of fun putting this together. Iwanted to create a quick dish that’ll appeal to little ones, mixing in thatmackerel with a few different colourful veggies so that all the good stuff ishidden from any fussy eaters, and that’s quick to prepare too.
So, let me introduce you to my Mexican Mackerel Boats…
Mexican MackerelBoats
Serves: 2-4 people (depending on size of appetite,with some filling left over)
Time to prepare: 25 minutes, from start to finish
Difficulty: easy peasy (little ones can help with themixing!)
1 x 190g can Princes Mackerel in a Chipotle Mexican Style Sauce
2 x jacket potatoes
1 x red pepper
3 x spring onions
1 x small tin sweetcorn
Grated cheese, to top the potatoes
Method:
1. Pop your jacket potatoes in the microwave for12-15 minutes, depending on size. You can pre-heat the oven on a high gas markto quickly brown off the skin once they are cooked through, if you like yourjackets this way.
2. While your potatoes are cooking away, prepareyour mackerel and veg. First, open your can of Princes Mackerel in a ChipotleMexican Style Sauce and use a fork to mash the fillets up, creating a saucy mixthat’s got an even consistency Put to one side.
3. Slice your red pepper into strips then cutcrossways so you have small diced pieces. Add to the mackerel.
4. Trim the spring onions and finely slice. Add tothe mackerel mix.
5. Drain your sweetcorn, then add. Stir into thebowl of mackerel, pepper and spring onion. Now, you can pop this into themicrowave for a minute, to heat it all through (Princes says that the filletsare even better hot, but it’s up to you).
6. When your jacket potatoes are ready – whetherstraight from the oven or after 5 minutes of browning in the oven – cut them inhalf and let the steam escape. Then take a small spoon and scoop out the fluffyinsides. Top tip: Don’t scoop tooclose to the skin, as you need this to keep its shape.
7. Add the fluffy potato to the bowl with the mackereland veg, and mix together well. The sauce will help bind everything togethernicely.
8. Fill the jacket skins back up with the mackerelmix – as much as you can stuff in!
9. Place each jacket skin on a wire rack, sprinklewith grated cheese then place under the grill for 2-3 minutes, until the cheesemelts and goes all bubbly.
10. Your Mexican Mackerel Boats are ready to bedevoured! Serve up with some salad.
Toptip: You could make some guacamole if your children don’t mind a bit ofgreen. Simply mash an avocado, add the juice of a lime, some sliced springonions and a twist of salt – and some chopped jalapenos for adults!
This recipe was so easy to put together, is full of goodthings and a great way to sneak in some oily fish and veggies if your kids areless than keen. The fluffy potato and cheese are familiar, popular flavours andthe sauce from the fillets is delicious and binds everything together nicely.It’s also cheap and quick to make – a winner for any busy mum sticking to abudget.
Top tip: If youhave some filling left over, it’ll keep in the fridge for the next day, or youcould roll into balls, dust with a little flour then pop on a baking sheetuntil golden to enjoy as some Mexican potato and mackerel bites. Yum!
The Princes Mackerel range has a wide selection of flavours inspired by cuisines from all over the world – visitwww.princes.co.uk/around-the-
