Tinned oily fish

[Pleasenomoreglitter]

Hi, I’m looking for ideas from people who eat tinned oily fish such as mackerel and sardines on what to do with them. I’ve bought some mackerel in spicy tomato sauce but realised I’m not actually sure how to serve it! I’ve seen people talk about having these / sardines on toast, but do you eat them cold from the tin spread on the toast or are you supposed to heat them up? Tuna I’d usually eat cold mixed with mayonnaise and sometimes use it in pasta sauce. So I feel a bit daft not knowing how to eat other tinned fish but it was never eaten in my house growing up so I have no reference point!

I eat a lot of tinned sardines in olive oil - I drain the oil and keep back about a tablespoon to which I add garlic, lemon juice and chilli flakes then cook them in the air fryer - they go with most things.

I quite like cold sardines in olive oil mashed on hot toast. Or I'll sometimes just heat them through in a small frying pan and have with toast and often a coleslaw made with an oil and vinegar dressing rather than mayonnaise.

They are also very nice warmed through and served with pasta...you can add parsley lemon and chilli. https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/spaghetti-sardines

I tend to buy the ones in olive oil as I prefer them. Also if you have a waitrose near you try the skinned ones - they are delicious https://www.waitrose.com/ecom/products/waitrose-sardine-piccanti/022543-11009-11010

I make a tomato based sauce and mix in sardines and have them with pasta. For lunch I have sardines cold with sweetcorn mixed with a little bit of mayo or greek yoghurt spread on toast.
With tinned mackerel we also make simple fish cakes.

I order nearly all my tinned fish from here:

https://www.thetinnedfishmarket.com/

and if you scroll down to the bottom of the home page you’ll find Recipes under Information.

Came on to recommend this shop. The teriyaki herrings are wonderful.

I cook up some giant cous cous and mix the tin of fish including oil around. Gorgeous and really filling.

Also Sea Sisters do some really nice tinned fish: British Conservas; preserved fish and seafood – Sea Sisters Cannery

But they're not particularly good at subscriptions.
I signed up to a 3-month subscription to try them out. They sent me the same things each month and were always delayed. But they were good when I did a one-off purchase.

I love tinned sardines.I either have them as part of a salad or in a sandwich.

I like sardines on toast (grill the mashed sardines on the toast) but have never worked out how to make them stick to the toast!

Tinned sardines or mackerel, drain the oil, add salt and eat straight from the tin. If I am short of time I will have one of each and call it a meal.

You can also make an easy pate just with butter and seasonings.

Pour into a bowl and add a dump of grated cheese mix mix then spread on bread and toast in grill yumyum

I usually put the tinned mackerel on toast then under the grill to heat it all through :). With tuna I'll make a mix of tuna, mayo, cucumber, peppers, spread that on toast and top with cheese and under the grill, it's delicious!

Tinned sardines heated in with a tomato sauce, bit of chilli and lemon zest, is great with pasta. You can add olives too.

Mackerel in tomato sauce heated through and served with salad or as a topping for baked potato. You can microwave it for about 90 seconds but it stinks the microwave out.

What they've said! Sometimes I just plonk some straight out of the tin onto rice cakes if I'm ravenous straight after a run or gym session.

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Mackerel pasta is a regular meal for us.

Ingredients:
Tin of mackerel in oil
Spaghetti
Cream cheese
Parmesan
Spinach
Shallots
Garlic
Black pepper
Lemon

Cook spaghetti for usual time
Whilst spaghetti is cooking, fry off some shallots, then add garlic.
Add cream cheese to shallots on low heat, add in mackerel and spinach. Before the spaghetti is done, add in pasta water to sauce and grate in the lemon rind and add squeeze of lemon.
Drain pasta, mix in with mackerel sauce!

One of my favourite meals.

On toasted bread or in a pasta dish.

And I know crab isn't an oily fish ... But it is very nice mixed with cream cheese and chives and added to the top of toast and put under the grill for a few mins. Feels like a posh meal, but it's very basic 😁

tinned mackerel in tomato sauce I plonk in a saucepan, heat it up, add some peri peri sauce for a bit of heat and then once warmed through mix in with boiled rice, so quick and absolutely delicious.

Do take a look at my link above, @Pleasenomoreglitter. But beyond that, the beauty of tinned fish is that there really are no rules - just experiment to find out what you like yourself.

The only thing I’d say is that if you’re going to incorporate the tinned fish into a cooked dish you can probably get away with something cheaper from a supermarket. If you’re spending more - on more carefully and expensively prepared fish - you really don’t want to mess about with it too much; leave the fish in as close to the state it comes out of the tin in as possible. Maybe heat in its own oil, but don’t break it all up and cause it to disappear amongst other ingredients!

Pilchards and pasta was one of the few school dinners I remember that was actually tasty. Heat it up in a saucepan, mix in some pasta, job done.

Tinned sardines make a great toastie if you have a sandwich toaster. I brush some of the oil on the outside instead of butter.

Love this thread! I usually buy mackerel tinned jn olive oil, and just eat it from the tin. Lazy, but delicious and no washing up. Lots of ideas and brands to try here!

Mix with chopped cherry tomatoes, avocado and thinly sliced red onion.

Love tinned sardines in tomato sauce on toast. Grill lightly to heat through after you have spread the mashed sardines on the toast.

Newsflash, people - there’s more than just sardines and mackerel available!