Wood fired mackerel on fennel and tomato

There were a couple of firsts when we cooked this dish in the DeliVita pizza oven on one of the live cooks. It was the first time I had deboned a mackerel while keeping the fillets attached to each other, and it was the first time I had cooked fish in the wood-fired oven. Both went perfectly and I really enjoyed cooking it.

The pizza oven blistered the fish skin, exactly what I was after. However, you could do this quite easily in a Big Green Egg.

The recipe for the fennel and tomato is borrowed from Mark's excellent website Smoked Fine Food. Mark slow roasts the fennel, we 'nuke' it. I like both results.

Method

1. Slice your fennel into 7mm thick slices, cutting the fennel vertically from top to bottom. I leave on the green wispy top. 
2. Cut your tomatoes into 7mm thick slices. 
3. Set up your pizza oven or Egg to cook at 220°C or hotter for the pizza oven. 
4. If you're cooking on the Egg set it up for an indirect cook in a cast iron skillet. 
5. Place your fennel into your baking dish or skillet, drizzle with 2-3 tbsp of olive oil and pop into the pizza oven or Egg.
6. Cook for about 5 minutes before turning. You're looking for some caramelisation of the fennel. 
7. Cook for a further 5 minutes and then add the slices of tomato, salt and pepper. 
8. Cook for 5 more minutes until the tomatoes soften. 
9. Now oil your fish skin and cook your mackerel either:
   1. on top of the veg in the pizza oven, skin side up until it blisters and the mackerel is cooked through (over 63°C internal temp).
   2. or on a stainless grid, skin side down until it is cooked.
10. Serve on the fennel and tomato with black pepper to season.