Squid, Salsa Verde Mackerel and Boulangere Potatoes

After a few days of decent but relatively dull food, we decided that we should celebrate the start of the weekend with something more interesting. Autumn looks like it’s on the way so we thought we would use the barbecue while we still could.

Stephen picked up some squid on the way home that we had been planning to slice and marinate before cooking. Somewhere along the way we decided just to grill them as steaks and serve with some garlic butter. They were really good, perfectly cooked and not at all rubbery with just the right amount of extra flavour from the garlic butter.

Having watched Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall on television earlier in the week, we were both keen to try his stuffed mackerel. We hadn’t been watching the boning of the fish very closely but Stephen did an excellent job of removing the bones and stuffing with the salsa verde I’d made earlier in the day. They look pretty rustic (I must learn how to string properly) but they tasted brilliant and went particularly well with the boulangere potatoes. I was pleased with how these turned out as my previous attempts haven’t been very successful. The key was obviously to cook them at a much lower temperature for longer.

Boulangere Potatoes

3 large potatoes

2 medium onions

Butter

500ml stock

Salt and pepper

Slice the potatoes as thinly as you can, we used a mandolin but a sharp knife will work too.

Slice the onions into half-moon shapes.

Layer the potatoes and onions into a buttered dish, seasoning each layer. Pour on the stock so that everything is well covered.

Cover with buttered foil and bake at 150 degrees for 3.5 hours. Remove the foil for the last 15 minutes so that the top browns.