Mackerel fillets with herbs and artichokes on potato puree

• 15 minutes to prepare • 1 hour to cook  • Serves 4

Kartoffeln

One, two, and soon the third week will begin, too. Almost 15 days have passed since the morning when we took out the car from the garage and headed north, towards Monaco of Bavaria. For good.

So much has happened recently that time has literally flown. There was the new job, the new apartment, the new park where to run (Hooray!!), the German course, the discovery of new areas of the city, meeting people from all over the world.
As reliable as an early judgement may be, we are satisfied with everything we are trying, with how the adventure has begun. And luckily it's just the beginning. I promise I will try to put some order in mind and to tell you salient news...as soon as life keeps changing.

Here it comes today's recipe. A small celebration of German cousine, featuring the princess of Bavarian dishes: Kartoffel, potato.
We will employ it to prepare a soft potato puree, to accompany some tasty mackerel fillets and braised artichoke hearts, according to Cucchiaio's suggestion.
You can't reprimand me today: the recipe is so healthy you will feel skinnier already while reading it!

Here's what you will need for the 4-serving recipe:

600 g mackerel fillets (cut into 4 pieces)
8 raw artichoke hearts
4 small potatoes
1 onion
1 branch celery
1 sprig rosemary
1 sprig thyme
1 sprig parsley
5 sage leaves
5 bay leaves
200 ml white wine
EVO oil
salt and pepper

1. Start by cooking the mackerel fillets: pour 2 tablespoons on EVO oil in a large pan. Chop finely onion, celery and all the herbs, and put them in the pan, together with mackerel fillets. Pour the white wine, and braise fillets on both sides for few minutes
2. Heat the oven to 120°. When it is ready, put mackerel fillets in a baking pan and bake them for 40 minutes
3. Meanwhile, we can prepare the truffle potato puree: peel the potatoes and slice them, not too thinly. Put them in a pan with 2 tablespoons of EVO oil, a pinch of salt and one ladle of water. Cook them until they become soft (it will take approximately 30 minutes), adding more water whether necessary
4. Drain and blend boiled potatoes until you obtain a dense cream. Add salt and freshly ground pepper according to your taste
5. When you're close to mackerel cooking time, cut the artichoke hearts into thin slices. Then, braise artichoke slices with 2 tablespoons of EVO oil and salt; cook gently perfuming with a pinch of pepper until they become soft and golden
6. Finally, we just need to arrange our serving plates: spread the potato cream in 4 plates and lay on each both the mackerel fillet and few artichoke slices. Bring it to the table while still warm

Nutrition Facts are listed for this recipe in the table below. Data is provided per serving.

Der dümmste Bauer erntet die dicksten Kartoffeln.*

(German proverb)

* The dumbest farmer harvests the biggest potatoes.