Mackerel Fillet with 'Luxury' Irish Champ... and a bit about Fitzbillies cafe

University open days are many things: daunting, stressful, emotional (that might just be me!)... but rarely are they delicious. But in Cambridge, it truly was. My dad was on open day duty for this one, so, being a fellow foodie, we planned our day with tasty pit-stops.

We actually ended up going to one particular cafe twice: Fitzbillies. Once for their incredible chelsea buns (famously saved by Tim Hayward - see article) and secondly for an evening meal. To be honest, it was a bit of a chelsea bun pilgrimage and, after the first mind blowing bite of sticky dough, we knew we just had to return.

On the return drive home, my dad asked me the big uni question "so what did today make you think?" Inferring: do you think Cambridge is right for you? Does the course look good? Do you think you could cope with the work load? My answer related to none of these. I merely responded "we've got to go back to Fitzbillies." A pretty strong compliment to Fitzbillies given that, after a day wandering round one of the country's most beautiful and most highly regarded universities, buns were the first things to pop into my mind.

The buns may get all the fame (deservedly so - soft, sticky, warmly spiced and with lots of fruit), but it was actually the meal in the evening that inspired this recipe. My main course was mackerel with champ and a gooseberry relish (a perfect addition, but there not currently in season - my visit to Fitzbillies was last July). I had neither tried nor heard of 'champ', but it quickly became apparent that I'd been missing out. True 'champ makers' may say that my following recipe isn't really champ at all "don't you think you've gone too far off piste?" they may ask. Well, if I am posed with that question, I would openly admit that this is definitely not traditional champ, but it is inspired by it and, in my humble opinion, it's good... and that's enough for me.

Ingredients:

1 Mackerel - head, tail and inside bits removed, cut into two fillets

2 potatoes (for mashing)

2 handfulls of spinach

2 rashers of smoked bacon

3 spring onions

A pinch of salt and pepper

A few splashes of milk (depending on your preferred mash consistency)

1 tsp butter

1tbsp olive oil

Method:

1. Boil potatoes in slightly salted water until cooked (soft when you put a knife in, but holding their shape)
2. Whilst they're cooking, finely chop the bacon and spring onions. Fry the bacon first and add the spring onions just before the bacon's done - you want the spring onions slightly cooked, but to retain their colour. Set aside.
3. When the potatoes are done, heat up a frying pan with 1tbsp olive oil (medium heat) for the mackerel and, once hot, place the mackerel skin side down onto the pan.
4. Whilst the mackerel cooks, drain the potatoes, then mash.
5. Add butter and milk to taste and, once mashed, combine with the cooked bacon, spring onions, a pinch of salt and pepper, and the raw spinach.
6. Stir to combine, keeping the pan on a very low heat to keep in warm (and help the spinach to cook through).
7. Once the mackerel looks cooked through up to a couple of milimetres from the top, turn it over and fry for another minute or so.
8. Serve together... I also added some fried sugar snap peas and a bit of onion marmalade, but that's just me, so pair it with whatever you fancy (or eat it just as it is!)