Baked mackerel with pancetta

Ingredients

½ small bulb fennel with leafy tops
¼ stale ciabatta loaf, crust removed
1 handful pine nuts, lightly toasted
1 handful chopped walnuts
1 handful fresh chives & parsley, chopped
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
50g (2 oz) Kerrygold Pure Irish Salted Butter
8 slices pancetta or dry-cured smoked bacon rashers
4 fresh mackerels, gutted, scaled and filleted
4 rosemary twigs

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Directions

Mackerel and pancetta. An unlikely pair but an inspired idea. Pancetta is Italian for cured pork belly. If you can’t get your hands on it, smoked rashers are fine. A surprisingly cheap but flavoursome supper, this recipe is a match for the best.

First remove the leafy tops and stalk from the fennel. Halve the fennel bulb and chop finely.
Whiz up the ciabatta into coarse breadcrumbs in a food processor and put the crumbs into a bowl with the fennel, pine nuts, walnuts, chives & parsley. Season well and mix in the melted butter.
Preheat the oven to 220C/ Gas Mark 7. On a clean board, lay out the pancetta. Place a mackerel skin side down at right angles to the pancetta. Stuff the mackerel pouch with some of the breadcrumb mix and then wrap the pancetta around the fish and hold it in place with a rosemary twig. Repeat this process with the remaining fish and place them in an ovenproof dish. Roast the fish at the top of the preheated oven for 10 -15 minutes or until the fish has started to crisp.
Serve with a rocket salad & a juicy wedge of lemon.