Mackerel is another oily fish that is perfect for smoking. For this recipe you could either used cold-smoked or hot-smoked mackerel. Both work excellently with the creamy celeriac. Cold smoking requires more salt than hot smoking where the fish is lightly cooked by the heat. Take care adding salt as a seasoning as the level will vary based on the smoking process.
Ingredients
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 1 leek, white part only, finely sliced
- 1 celery stick, finely chopped
- 1 head of celeriac, peeled and diced
- 1 litre/1¾ pints/4¼ cups
- vegetable or chicken stock
- 125 ml/4 fl oz/½ cup double (heavy) cream
- 200 g/7 oz smoked mackerel fillet, skinned and broken into pieces
- handful of chervil, finely chopped
- light olive oil, for fryin
- extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling
- salt and pepper
How to Make It
- Heat 2 tablespoons of light olive oil in a large saucepan over a medium-high heat. Add the onion, leek, celery and celeriac and fry for a few minutes without letting the vegetables brown. Pour in the stock, bring to the boil and simmer for 20 minutes.
- Purée the soup in a liquidizer or with a hand blender. Return it to pan, stir in the cream and reduce the soup slowly over a low heat for 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
- Ladle the soup into four serving bowls and divide the smoked mackerel pieces between them. Garnish the soup with chervil and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil with some pepper ground over.
