Smoked Mackerel Pasta With Chilli and Lemon
Smoked mackerel pasta with chilli, lemon and some glorious golden breadcrumbs to offer texture to a quick, frugal and really simple dinner.
This simple, light and spicy fish pasta will go right from your pantry to your table in around 15-20 minutes, making it a wonderful mid-week munch.
Quick and Easy Spicy Fish Pasta
I have a thing for fish, I love cooking with it and eating it, and for me, the finest fish in the sea is mackerel.
I use it all of the time, it is delicious, rich and comparatively speaking, incredibly cheap.
This wonderful, quick pasta recipe uses smoked mackerel fillets rather than fresh fish, which makes this dish quick to cook.
I use it in recipes as diverse and smoked mackerel risotto, smoked mackerel, apple and bacon salad, smoked mackerel potato frittata and even a smoked mackerel kedgeree.
It has a wonderfully aromatic, smoky flavour, robust but moist flesh, and it absolutely sings in this pasta recipe.
The oily fish is tempered by the addition of lemon juice and lemon zest, and given a bit of bite with dried chilli flakes.
The dish is finished with some wonderfully crispy and golden garlic breadcrumbs.
If mackerel is your thing, check out my canned mackerel fish cakes, tinned mackerel and broccoli pasta, whole baked mackerel and fresh devilled mackerel fillets.
I even have an incredible tinned-sardine pasta bolognese!
Frequently Asked Questions
Should I use peppered or plain mackerel fillets?
This recipe works equally well with either; use whatever you prefer.
Can I use a whole smoked mackerel?
Yes, of course, but they can be a bit messy to flake up. If that does not bother you, then knock yourself out!
Can I use different types of pasta?
Definitely, this is great with everything from conchiglie to pappardelle and even orecchiette.
The only pasta that I would avoid is "tubes" because there is not enough sauce to make it work.
Do I have to add the chilli?
No, it can be omitted or scaled back as per your preference.
Can this be eaten cold?
Yes, this is great as a lunchbox dish, but I would pack the breadcrumbs separately to keep them crisp.
Serving Suggestions
This recipe is designed to be a simple pasta dish, and I'd usually serve it as it comes, with maybe a bread side.
I'm quite happy with some toasted ciabatta or focaccia bread, drizzled with a little olive oil.
But my wife ALWAYS insists on garlic bread... to be fair, I could say that about practically any meal!
Equipment Used
I only recommend specific brands of equipment if I think that they make a material difference to a recipe. If you have any questions, feel free to ask them in the comments section below the recipe.
- Hob/stovetop.
- 20cm or 8" saucepan.
- 24cm or 10" frying pan.
- Small bowls.
- Kitchen knife.
- Chopping board.
- A combination of weighing scales and measuring spoons.
Smoked Mackerel Pasta Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 Smoked Mackerel Fillets 200-225g or 8oz total
- ½ teaspoon Dried Chilli Flakes
- 1 Lemon
- 3 tablespoon Olive Oil
- 15 g Breadcrumbs ¼ Cup
- 1 Garlic Clove
- 200 g Fusilli Pasta 5oz
- 4 tablespoon Fresh Parsley ¼ Cup
- Salt (for cooking the pasta)
Instructions
- Bring a 20cm or 8" saucepan of well-salted water to a boil (I use 1½-2 teaspoons of salt in a pan this size).
- Peel the skin off the mackerel and discard it, then break the flesh into flakes.
- Peel and mash the garlic into a paste.
- Zest and juice the lemon.
- Finely chop the parsley.
- Add the pasta to the boiling water and cook as per the instructions, noting how long the pasta should take to cook.
- Heat a medium (24cm or 10") frying pan over a medium heat, and when it is hot, add one tablespoon of the oil. Add the garlic and breadcrumbs, lemon zest and cook until golden, stirring regularly to avoid burning the breadcrumbs. Once they are golden, remove them and set them aside on some kitchen paper
- 3 minutes before the pasta is due to be cooked, heat the remaining tablespoon of olive oil over a medium heat. The same pan you toasted the breadcrumbs in is fine. Throw in the chilli flakes and cook for 30 seconds.
- Then add the flaked fish. This is already cooked, so it just needs to be brought to a nice temperature, which should take a couple of minutes.
- Drain the pasta (reserving 75ml or ⅓ Cup of the cooking liquid) and add it to the fish, toss to coat and add half of the lemon juice and most of the chopped parsley (save a little for garnish).
- Add just enough of the cooking liquid to get a nice silky coating in the pasta.
- Serve topped with the toasted breadcrumbs, a little bit of the remaining lemon juice and freshly chopped parsley.
Smoked mackerel here in rural New York is for posh people, either in tiny cans packed in olive oil or mail ordered from a specialty shop, but smoked trout is available in one of the larger grocers, so I used that, and it worked wonderfully. Well, except that I don't have a hood over my stove and cooking the pepper flakes made my eyes water
I look forward to making this dish again in a few weeks when I can bring in fresh tomatoes from the garden and have a caprese salad on the side.
Hey Gina...
I never cease to be surprised that expensive/frugal ingredients in one country completely flip on their head in another country.
Smoked trout is glorious, it was readily available in Hungary, but here in the UK it is muck less commonly found and definitely more costly than smoked mackerel.
Sorry about the pepper flakes, a bit of an occupational hazard I guess, there are many times that I start my dinner in tears 😉
Glad you enjoyed this, thanks for taking the time to comments and review.
Brian 🙂
Excellent! We had it for Good Friday dinner, dudn't disappoint.
Thanks Eva. Glad you liked it.
Oh I love smoked mackerel, but it is super difficult to find here in rural Australia 🙁
We do get plenty of smoked trout so I might have to try it with that because this sounds delicious!
Oh I love smoked mackerel, but it is super difficult to find here in rural Australia 🙁
We do get plenty of smoked trout so I might have to try it with that because this sounds delicious!
I'm sure it will work great with smoked trout... I have no idea why smoked mackerel is so popular here in Hungary as we can get no other sea fish (or not readily anyway), but I am glad it is, I love it!
oh love smoked mackerel and pasta, sounds lush. Lovely flavour combos for Winter.
Me too, in fact if it is mackerel I love it period 🙂
Oh yummy yum yum! I always have a can of mackerel in, if not a fillet or two of the smoked stuff. I really love it - why have I never had it with pasta though?! Love the look of this Brian, nice and easy and proper tasty too!
C'mon Jo sort it out, a winner of a combination, think tuna pasta turned up to 37.79 😀
Mackerel is so good for your heart and your brain. Love the addition of chili too.
Really, I've always loved mackerel and eat it as often as I can and am still as thick as tow short planks 😉
I love Mackerels and this dish look so inviting. Love the addition of breadcrumb on the top.. and you photographed it so beautifully too! Makes me wanna run to the kitchen.
Thanks Veena, not my favourite photographic work but it really floats my boat with flavour 🙂
Yay! A pasta recipe that is dairy free!! (I'm easily pleased, can you tell??!)
Jane x
Haha, you know what I never even noticed... I did go back and check though and apart from the optional Parmesan cheese on top it would appear that about 50% of my pasta recipes are dairy free 😮