Mackerel with smashed cucumber and bacon XO sauce recipe
Oily, rich mackerel is often overlooked, but it’s packed with goodness and is also robust enough to stand up to the punchy flavours of this bacon XO sauce.
If you want a quick punchy sauce to level up your meals, this XO style sauce recipe will get your taste buds tingling. Packed with umami from the soy, shiitake and anchovies, it perfectly balances with the mackerel. And who doesn't love a smashed cucumber salad to soak up that extra sauciness.
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Yields:
2 serving(s)
Prep Time:
5 mins
Cook Time:
10 mins
Total Time:
15 mins
Cal/Serv:
551
Ingredients
For the Sauce:
1/2 Tbsp. Vegetable oil
125 g Smoked streaky bacon
150 g shiitake mushrooms, finely chopped
4 anchovy fillets, finely chopped
2 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
5 cm piece ginger, finely grated
1 red chilli, finely chopped (deseeded, if you like)
1/2 Tbsp. plain flour
150 ml chicken stock
1 Tbsp. soy sauce* We used GH Pantry Partner, Kikkoman
1/2 Tbsp. soft dark brown sugar
For the Mackerel:
1 cucumber
1 Tbsp. sesame oil
1/2 Chinese cabbage, cored and finely shredded
250 g pack microwave basmati rice
1 tsp. soy sauce
4 spring onions, finely sliced
2 mackerel fillets
4 Tbsp. Bacon XO Sauce
Directions
Step 1Heat the oil in a non-stick frying pan over a medium heat and cook the bacon for 5–6 minutes, until crisp.
Step 2Add the mushrooms and cook for 4–5 minutes, until softened and any liquid has evaporated.
Step 3Stir in the anchovies, garlic, ginger and chilli. Cook for 2–3 minutes, until fragrant and the anchovies have melted.
Step 4Stir in the flour and cook, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes.
Step 5Pour in the chicken stock, soy sauce, sugar and rice vinegar. Simmer for 3–4 minutes, until thick and glossy.
Step 6Bash the cucumber all over with a rolling pin, then chop into chunky bite-sized pieces. Transfer to a colander, sprinkle with flaky sea salt and leave while you prepare the rest of the dish.
Step 7Heat half the sesame oil in a large non-stick pan over a medium heat. Add the cabbage and cook for 2 minutes, stirring regularly. Add the rice and stir well to combine, seasoning with the soy sauce. Add 50 ml water, cover with a lid and cook for 2–3 minutes, until the rice is fluffy. Stir through the spring onions and keep warm.
Step 8Pat the mackerel fillets dry with kitchen paper and season. Heat the remaining sesame oil in a non-stick frying pan over a medium-high heat. Cook the mackerel skin-side down for 3–4 minutes, pressing lightly to crisp the skin. Flip over and cook for 1 minute more.
Step 9Rinse the cucumber well and pat dry. Toss with 3–4 tbsp Bacon XO Sauce, then serve with the rice, mackerel and an extra spoonful of sauce.
GH tips:
Bacon XO sauce keeps well in the fridge for up to 3 days and is brilliant spooned over noodles, fried eggs or roasted greens for an instant hit of smoky umami flavour.
If you like this recipe, you’ll love our Salmon noodle traybake. Try it with the XO sauce for an extra punch of flavour.
The GH Kitchen Team are Good Housekeeping’s resident recipe developers and all-round food obsessives. GH Kitchen Director Sarah Akhurst is our resident hosting pro and loves nothing more than putting on a foodie feast for friends. Our GH Kitchen Manager Linzi Pucino is our very own Italian food expert (originally hailing from the North East of Scotland!) and can be found working her way through midweek recipes that cover all bases, from haggis to ragu! Our Kitchen Editor Nadine Brown loves digging into the stories behind her favourite foods and enjoys applying her eclectic tastes to more modern, flavour-forward recipes - just don't give her too much chilli! Our Junior Food Content Produce Frankie Prichard combines a love of beautiful presentation and flavour-led, seasonal cooking in her recipe development, along with a passion for bringing people together through food. With a wealth of professional kitchen experience between them, they’re dedicated to ensuring every Good Housekeeping recipe is the best it can be, so you can trust they’ll work every single time
Linzi joins the Good Housekeeping team as Kitchen Manager, looking after the brand-new, state-of-the art test and demo kitchens based in the heart of Leicester Square. With over a decade of experience producing food content for leading brands, she’s won awards for her recipes, battled Christmas dinners in July, and spent a lot of time pondering the next big food trend (no more pistachio, please!) Originally from the North East of Scotland, she lives in West London with her Italian husband and twin daughters, feeding them a variety of haggis and ragu - depending on the mood!
