Mackerel, mussels and a pan of good butter: three recipes for the cold months.

The boats out of Port Selwyn have had a decent start to the cold season. Mackerel have stayed late in the bay, the rope-grown mussels from the headland farms are fat and sweet, and prices on the quay have held steady while much else in the shop has not. This is the time of year to cook fish simply, with plenty of butter and something sharp to cut through it.

The three recipes below each feed four and need nothing more complicated than a large frying pan, a lidded pot and an oven tray. Buy fish that is bright-eyed and firm, and mussels that are tightly closed or close when tapped.

Pan-fried mackerel with brown butter and capers

Ask the fishmonger to fillet four mackerel, leaving the skin on. At home, pat the fillets dry with kitchen paper and score the skin two or three times with a sharp knife so it does not curl. Season both sides with salt.

  • 4 mackerel, filleted (8 fillets)
  • 60g unsalted butter
  • 2 tbsp small capers, rinsed
  • 1 lemon
  • A small bunch of flat-leaf parsley, chopped
  • 1 tbsp rapeseed oil

Heat the oil in a large frying pan over a medium-high flame until it shimmers. Lay the fillets in skin side down, pressing each one gently with a spatula for the first ten seconds. Cook for about three minutes until the skin is crisp and the flesh has turned opaque two-thirds of the way up, then turn and give them thirty seconds more. Lift onto warm plates. Wipe the pan, add the butter and let it foam until it smells nutty and turns the colour of hazelnuts, around two minutes. Throw in the capers, squeeze in half the lemon, add the parsley and spoon over the fish straight away. Serve with boiled potatoes or thick toast.

Mussels in cider with leeks

Scrub 1.5kg of mussels under cold water, pulling away the beards and discarding any with broken shells or that stay open when tapped. In a large lidded pot, melt 30g of butter and soften two finely sliced leeks with a crushed garlic clove over a low heat for eight minutes, without letting them colour. Turn the heat up high, tip in the mussels and pour over 250ml of dry cider from the valley orchards. Clamp the lid on and cook for four to five minutes, shaking the pot once or twice, until the shells have opened.

Lift the mussels into bowls with a slotted spoon. Stir two tablespoons of double cream and a handful of chopped chives into the liquor left in the pot, bubble it for a minute, then pour over. Throw away any that have stayed shut. Bread for the juices is not optional.

“People overcook mussels because they’re nervous of them. The moment the shells open, they’re done – every extra minute turns them to rubber,” said Annie Trelawn, who has run the fish counter at the Selwyn quay market for nineteen years.

Trelawn also suggests buying mussels the day you cook them and keeping them in the fridge in an open bowl covered with a damp cloth, never in a sealed bag or in water, where they will suffocate.

Roast mackerel on potatoes and fennel

This one does most of the work itself. Heat the oven to 200C (180C fan). Slice 750g of waxy potatoes about half a centimetre thick and a large fennel bulb into thin wedges. Toss both with three tablespoons of olive oil, a teaspoon of fennel seeds, salt and pepper, spread them over a large roasting tray and cook for 30 minutes, turning once, until golden at the edges.

Meanwhile, take four whole cleaned mackerel and make three deep slashes on each side. Stuff the cavities with lemon slices and a few sprigs of thyme. Lay the fish on top of the potatoes, dot with 40g of butter, and return the tray to the oven for 15 to 18 minutes, until the flesh lifts easily from the bone near the head. Finish with a splash of white wine vinegar over the potatoes while they are still hot, so they soak it up.

Leftover roast mackerel is worth saving. Flaked into a bowl with crème fraîche, horseradish and black pepper, it makes a quick pâté that keeps for two days in the fridge and goes well on rye toast for a winter lunch.