Dan Browne, a lecturer who teaches chefs at the IT Tralee, created this recipe for the Kerry Food Story, a book about the delicious ingredients available from the Kerry region. This recipe showcases local mackerel fillets and Valentia Farmhouse Dairy Buttermilk. You can use any good quality buttermilk.

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 tbsp coriander seeds
50g sugar
50g salt
60ml white wine vinegar
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon and 1 lime
4 Quinlan’s Mackerel Fillets, skin on/bones removed
200ml Valentia Farmhouse Dairy Buttermilk
8g horseradish purée
1g Xanthan gum (optional)
Salt and black pepper
1/4 of a cucumber, thinly sliced
40g Olivier Beaujouan’s Pickled Sea Vegetables
1 radish, very thinly sliced
Picked dill and edible flowers

Instructions

1. Make the cure for the mackerel: grind the coriander seeds finely and mix with the sugar, salt, 50ml white wine vinegar and lemon and lime zest. Pour into a small pan and place the mackerel in it fleshside down. Cover with cling film and chill for 3 hours.

2. Make the Horseradish Buttermilk: place the buttermilk in a jug blender with the horseradish purée and Xanthan gum (if using). Season with salt and black pepper. Blend for 1 minute.

3. To serve: Rinse the cure off the mackerel with cold running water and pat dry with paper towel, making sure the skin is especially dry. Blowtorch the skin or sear the mackerel, skin-side up, for 30 seconds.

4. To plate: place a spoon of buttermilk purée on a plate and smear with the back of a spoon. Toss the cucumber and sea vegetables together, season with freshly ground black pepper and the last 10ml of white wine vinegar. Place in the centre of the plate with a cured mackerel fillet to one side. Garnish with a slice of radish, picked dill and edible flowers (Dan chose his from local Kerry producer Manna Organic).