The Home of Guy

Nigel Slater's salad of mackerel, bacon and potatoes, and black pudding, cabbage and mustard cream dressing recipes

Warm up a crispy salad with mackerel, pancetta or even crumbled black pudding for a colourful spring supper

Nigel Slater mackerel potato salad
Salad daze: Nigel Slater's mackerel, bacon and potato salad. Photograph: Jonathan Lovekin for the Observer

All manner of warm ingredients find themselves added to a salad in my kitchen, from waxy potatoes fresh from the steamer to jagged-edged shards of fish and snippets of flash-fried rose-pink chicken livers.

I find the meeting of hot and cold ingredients in a salad perfect for this odd weather, seesawing between early morning frost and soul-healing sunshine. I want the fresh crunch of salad leaves and lightly cooked vegetables but with the substance of something hot and filling.

Last night I fried seasoned mackerel fillets until their skin started to crisp up, then broke them, still warm from the pan, into rough pieces. Gently tossed with new potatoes and rocket leaves, the fish turned a plate of leaves into a surprisingly substantial main course. In a perfect world, there would have been peppery watercress, too.

Mushrooms, sliced, seasoned with crushed garlic and ground coriander seeds then fried in butter make an addition to a salad of young spinach leaves that is both earthy and juicy. Thinly sliced scallops work here, too, if you are feeling flush.

The most common and probably the most welcome addition to spring leaves or greens is a few rashers of bacon or thin slices of pancetta. The essential point is to get them truly crisp. Even a few seconds on a sheet of kitchen paper after they leave the pan will soak up the fat and encourage them towards crispness. Black pudding is another thought. I let it collapse into generously sized rubble in a hot, nonstick pan before tossing it over lightly cooked spring greens or shredded cabbage leaves.

The dressing for a warm salad is worth taking time over – so many people mistakenly think it's all about the ingredients when it is actually the dressing that is likely to make or break your supper. Knock up a mustardy dressing for oily fish and anything pork-based, or something green and herby for a potato-based salad.

You could skip the mustard and try a spoonful of chilli sauce or a grating of fresh horseradish. I recently ate an extraordinary and original starter at Trullo (trullorestaurant.com) of thin slices of grilled ox heart with freshly grated horseradish root and long to find more uses for this nose-tingling root. Its clean heat is a good one for oily fish, too. Try a little in your next salad dressing.

A SALAD OF MACKEREL, BACON AND POTATOES

The potatoes are best dressed when they are still warm, so they soak up the dressing.

Serves 4 as a light main course

Peel and finely slice the onion into rings. Put them into a small bowl with the white-wine vinegar and set aside for 30 minutes or more, tossing occasionally. This removes any harshness and will slightly soften the onion's flesh.

Boil the potatoes in deep, generously salted water for 15 minutes until they are tender. Drain, and when they are ready, slice each thickly and add them to the dressing below.

While the potatoes are boiling make the dressing by putting a generous pinch of salt in a bowl, adding the cider vinegar and stirring to dissolve. Mix in the mustard, oil and then add the capers, rinsed briefly. Chop the dill leaves and stalks finely then add to the dressing and set aside. Add the drained and sliced potatoes as soon as they're ready.

Drain the onion rings, discard the vinegar, add the onions to the potatoes and stir gently. Set aside.

Warm a little oil in a nonstick frying pan over a moderate heat. Add the bacon rashers and fry until crisp, rest them briefly on a piece of kitchen paper, then snip into pieces the size of a postage stamp. Turn the heat off under the pan, but leave any bacon fat in the pan for cooking the fish.

Put a thin layer of flour on a plate and season with salt and finely ground black pepper. Lay the fillets in the flour, pat firmly then turn and coat the other side.

Warm the bacon fat, lower the fillets into the pan skin side down and leave to brown lightly. When the skin is just starting to crisp, slide a palette knife under the fish and turn it over. Lightly brown the other side, remove from the pan and drain on kitchen paper. Gently break or cut each fish fillet into four or five rough pieces.

Divide the salad leaves between four plates or shallow dishes. Pile the potatoes and onion rings on top leaving any dressing behind in the bowl. Add the pieces of warm fish and scatter over the bacon. Spoon over any remaining dressing from the potato bowl and serve immediately.

BLACK PUDDING, CABBAGE AND MUSTARD CREAM DRESSING

A firm pudding is easier for frying in slices. Chorizo would be a fiery substitute.

Serves 2 as a light lunch

Wash the cabbage, place the leaves on top of one another and roll tightly, then shred finely with a knife. Make the dressing: put a pinch of salt in a bowl, add the white-wine vinegar and stir briefly. Stir in the mustard then pour in the oil, whisking as you go. Stir in the cream and chopped parsley.

Thickly slice the black pudding. Heat the oil in a nonstick frying pan or wok, then add the black pudding. As it starts to crisp and crumble, turn it briefly then lift out on to a warm plate. Add the shredded greens to the pan, let them fry for a minute or two, moving them round the pan so they do not brown. Once the leaves are wilted but still bright, season with black pepper and return the black pudding to the pan.

Pour in the dressing and toss lightly with a fork and spoon then divide between two warm plates.

Email Nigel at nigel.slater@observer.co.uk or visit theguardian.com/profile/nigelslater for all his recipes in one place

Tiny footer content goes here