Sweet Potato, Smoked Mackerel and Beetroot Salad

Click the photo to see how pretty the beetroot tints the mackerel.


The recipe comes from Angela Hartnett, and may be found at The Guardian website, HERE.

I made a few changes and it was still brilliant. I made use of some tinned smoked mackerel I had, as well as tinned beets. What I did not have on hand was horseradish sauce, so I made my own. The recipe will follow at the end of the post.

When I mentioned that dinner would be smoked mackerel with beets, and sweet potatoes, I did get a bit of wincing from Mr. ETB. I'm pleased to report that the boys both cleared their plates, and would have had a second serving were it available. You may wish to take this into consideration and double the recipe. I also served mine on a bed of lettuce as my family have very middle class ideas with respect to what constitutes, "salad." I harbour no such ideas of course as "salad" in my mother's home was a plastic tub of macaroni in sauce purchased at the supermarket. It was the 70's.

For the horseradish cream:
(This will make quite a bit of cooked mayonnaise. I turned half of it into horseradish cream, and left the rest to be adapted into salad spreads/dressing as needed. It will thicken quite a bit on standing, but is easily thinned with either cream or sour cream. Some paprika stirred in makes a wonderful French dressing).

You Will Need:

1/2 cup sifted plain flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons dry mustard powder
1 cup water
3/4 cup cider vinegar or lemon juice
4 egg yolks or 2 whole eggs (I used 2 whole eggs this time)
1 tablespoon butter

In a saucepan combine the flour, sugar, salt and mustard. Slowly whisk in the water and vinegar. Cook over medium heat until it comes to a boil. Cook 1 minute longer. Remove from heat and with a hand mixer, beat in the butter and eggs until smooth. Remove to a bowl, cover with cling film on the surface to prevent a skin forming and cool. When cool, add well-drained horseradish to taste (I used about 1 tablespoon) and enough heavy cream to thin. Drizzle over the salad. The remaining mayo and horseradish cream will keep in the fridge about 5 days.