Spaghetti with Mackerel

Happy New year and all that! For the elusive reader, here's a sincere apology for not posting for a long time. To be fair to us, it's the terrace gardening that kept us from posting new recipes. So one of these days, when we saw Jamie Oliver's 'Fish with linguine' recipe on his FB wall, we knew this should be tried and tested. Tried and tested we did and owing to its awesomeness, we immediately decided it needs to be shared. 

Here it is for you. We have generously adapted the recipe to fit our taste (and to the ingredients that we had in the kitchen). Not a fish eater? Just skip the mackerel and you get a great, light pasta dish for dinner!

Mackerel - 2 fillets 
Spaghetti (or linguine) - 250 gms
Garlic - 3 large or 4 small cloves
Cherry Tomatoes - 4 to 5 (or one big tomato)
Parsley - few sprigs
Thyme - few sprigs
Lemon -  1 (juice and zest)
Fresh Red Chili - 1
Butter - 1 tbsp
Olive Oil
Sea salt
Pepper 

Directions to cook:

• Set a pot of water to boil for the pasta with a teaspoon of cooking oil and salt. Meanwhile...
• Wash the fillet, apply just enough salt and crushed pepper and keep aside to marinate.
• Peel and slice the garlic cloves, finely chop the red chili, parsley and thyme; also, halve the cherry tomatoes and zest the lemon
• Add around 3 tablespoons of oil in the hot wok, add the garlic; once it starts to show some color, add red chili, half of parsley and the fish fillet (skin side down, else your fish will curl up in the heat)
• Toss and cook the fillet in low heat; it's ok if it flakes and breaks, it's supposed to (if it doesn't, use the spatula to break it up into rough chunks. You don't want a whole fillet in your pasta)
• Add the tomatoes and stir for about a minute
• Throw in the lemon zest and stir for exactly 30 seconds, else the zest loses its flavor
• Turn off the heat and add the lemon juice and give it a stir
• Your pasta must be done now, use tongs to add the pasta from the pot to the wok. 
• Add the butter to the hot pasta and toss to coat
• Add the seasoning, salt followed by the finely chopped spices - Parsley and Thyme

Serve warm!