Spanish cuisine · Salads & Mezze

Melva Salad with Piquillo Peppers

Preserved frigate mackerel fillet on sweet piquillo peppers with red onion and sherry vinegar.

Ingredients · for 4 servings

• 300 g melva fillet in oil (or mackerel fillet in oil as a substitute)
• 1 jar piquillo peppers (250 g)
• 1 red onion
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1/2 bunch flat-leaf parsley
• 5 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp sherry vinegar
• 1 tsp coarse sea salt
• Pepper

Instructions

1. Drain the piquillo peppers, cut lengthwise into finger-wide strips and arrange fanned out on a flat platter.
2. Shave the red onion into paper-thin rings and soak in cold water for 5 min. to mellow its sharpness, then pat dry.
3. Finely grate the garlic and whisk with olive oil, sherry vinegar and pepper into a smooth dressing.
4. Drain the melva fillets and lay in rough chunks over the pepper strips without crushing them – they should still be recognizable as fillets.
5. Scatter the onion rings over the top and spoon the dressing over the whole salad.
6. Let sit at room temperature for 10 min. before serving and sprinkle with coarse sea salt and chopped parsley.