'I'm a Michelin-starred chef but my main mission is to get people eating more seafood'

“I am often asked, ‘What is your favourite cooked fish dish to eat?’ Well, barbecued mackerel is the one for me,” says chef Nathan Outlaw.

“There’s something about the smell, texture, crisp bits and the smoke from the coals and wood that makes me very happy. This recipe is my very favourite way to eat it, and I love the smoked chilli sauce here that’s served with it.”

Serves 4. Ingredients: 4 large mackerel, gutted.

For the rub: 2tsp chilli flakes; 1tbsp fennel seeds; 1tsp black peppercorns; Zest of 2 oranges; 1tsp sea salt; 1tsp chopped thyme leaves

For the smoked chilli sauce: A drizzle of olive oil; 1 shallot, chopped; 3 garlic cloves, chopped; 2 smoked chillies, chopped; 2 thyme sprigs, leaves picked and chopped; 1tbsp fennel seeds; Zest of 1 orange; 50g soft dark brown sugar; 75ml red wine vinegar; 100ml freshly squeezed orange juice; 200g good-quality canned plum tomatoes; Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

To serve: 16 asparagus spears, trimmed; 12 spring onions, trimmed; 2 small oranges, halved

To prepare the rub, toast the spices in a dry pan over a medium heat for a minute or so until fragrant and starting to crackle.

Add the orange zest, salt and thyme and heat for 30 seconds. Grind in a mortar and pestle or spice grinder until fine, then leave to cool.

Slash the skin of the mackerel three to four times on each side and place the fish on a tray. Sprinkle all over with the spice mixture, rubbing it into the slashes. Leave to marinate in the refrigerator for one hour.

To make the chilli sauce, heat a frying pan over a medium heat and add the olive oil. When hot, add the shallot, garlic and chillies and sweat for three minutes.

Stir in the thyme, fennel seeds and orange zest and cook for another minute. Add the sugar and wine vinegar and stir until the sugar has dissolved, then bubble and reduce until syrupy.

Add the orange juice and tomatoes. Bring to a simmer and bubble until the liquid has reduced by half again. Taste, then season with salt and pepper, as required.

Tip the contents of the pan into a food processor and blitz for three minutes. Strain the sauce through a fine sieve into a bowl and leave to cool.

Light your barbecue one hour before you plan on eating.

When the coals are white hot, place the mackerel on the barbecue rack and cook for three minutes on one side, then carefully turn the fish over and cook on the other side for three minutes. (Alternatively, you can cook the mackerel under a hot grill.) Grill the asparagus, spring onions and orange halves until golden.

Carefully lift the fish onto a serving platter, using a big fish slice (not tongs – mackerel is too delicate for those). Serve immediately, with the chilli sauce, asparagus, spring onions and orange halves on the side.

Steamed brill

“A filleted portion of brill from a good-sized fish, lightly steamed, is a comforting and pleasurable delight,” says chef Nathan Outlaw.

“Brill is such a delicate species that harsher techniques of cooking tend to dry out the edges of the fish. In this recipe, I’ve paired the fish with a subtle fennel salt that brings out its character.

“Beneath the fish pools a fresh, but rich, stew of peas, bolstered with cider and clotted cream. A wonderful, delicate plate of food, I hope you’ll agree!”

Serves 4. Ingredients: 2tsp fennel seeds; 2tsp sea salt; 8 slices of smoked streaky bacon or pancetta; 2kg brill, filleted and portioned into 4 x 120g portions; 2tbsp olive oil; A drizzle of extra virgin rapeseed oil, to finish

For the pea, shallot & cider stew: 50g unsalted butter; 2tbsp rapeseed oil; 12 shallots, peeled and left whole; 200ml dry cider; 1 sprig of rosemary, finely chopped; 300ml fish stock; 200g fresh peas, podded; 100g clotted cream (ideally Cornish, of course!); 1tbsp chopped mint leaves; 1tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley leaves; Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

To make the stew, heat the butter and oil in a medium saucepan over a medium heat. When the butter is bubbling, add the shallots and gently let them colour all over, stirring occasionally, for 15–20 minutes.

Don’t cook them too quickly – if they start to colour fast, reduce the heat.

Once the shallots are well coloured, add the cider and rosemary and increase the heat to allow the cider to reduce quickly.

When the cider has reduced by three-quarters, pour in the fish stock and simmer until reduced by half. Add the peas and simmer for a further 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, set up a large bamboo steamer or switch on your steamer oven. Crush the fennel seeds and sea salt together in a mortar and pestle and set aside.

Cook the bacon until crispy under a hot grill or in a frying pan and set aside.

Season the brill with two teaspoons of the fennel seed salt and drizzle with the olive oil. Place the fish on a sheet of baking parchment and steam for four to five minutes.

While the fish is cooking, add the clotted cream to the stew. Bring to a simmer and whisk it in, then add the chopped herbs. Taste and add salt and pepper as you like.

To finish, ladle the stew into bowls. Peel the skin away from the brill and sprinkle the flesh with one teaspoon of the fennel seed salt.

Place the fish on top of each portion of stew and add two slices of crispy bacon to each bowl.

Drizzle a little extra virgin rapeseed oil over the fish and serve. I would serve this with either new or mashed potatoes.

Hake and mussels in a bag

“Cooking in paper is nothing new, but I think it’s a super-simple way of serving fillets of fish,” says chef Nathan Outlaw.

“It’s a very gentle way of cooking more delicate species. This recipes marries fish and shellfish with beer, which – I suppose – sounds a bit strange, but trust me, it works so well.

“I use a wheat beer because it is not too bitter but has a touch of acidity and freshness that works beautifully with the fish. I like to serve this with a bowl of chips.”

Serves 4. Ingredients: 4 x 150g skin-on hake portions; 2tsp coriander seeds, ground; 20 live mussels, cleaned and beards removed; 4 sprigs of thyme; Zest of 2 oranges; 8tbsp wheat beer; Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the leeks and bacon: 100g unsalted butter; Olive oil; 8 slices smoked streaky bacon, finely sliced; 2 leeks, washed and shredded; 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped; 150ml wheat beer

To cook the leeks, heat a large pan over a medium heat and add the butter and a drizzle of oil. When the butter is bubbling, add the bacon and cook for five minutes, stirring occasionally.

When the bacon has started to brown, add the leeks and cook for another five minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Now add the garlic and cook for one minute, then pour in the beer.

Cook for about five minutes until the beer has reduced, then remove from the heat and leave to cool.

Preheat the oven to 200°C Fan (425°F), Gas Mark 7.

On a clean work surface, lay out four large sheets of baking parchment (roughly 30 x 30-centimetres).

Divide the leek and bacon mix into four equal portions and arrange over one half of each sheet of parchment.

Season the hake portions with salt, pepper and ground coriander seeds and place on top of the leeks together with five mussels in each parcel, a sprig of thyme and an equal share of the orange zest.

Fold over the paper and crimp the edges so they are firmly sealed, leaving you with four parcels.

Leave a small opening to allow you to pour two tablespoons of beer into each parcel. Seal the hole up by folding it down tightly.

If the quality of the paper isn’t great, you may need to use two sheets for each parcel or add a layer of foil on the outside. The aim is that the moisture inside doesn’t escape – this is really important!

Place the hake parcels onto a baking tray or two and bake in the oven for 15 minutes. When the cooking time is up, remove the parcels and serve immediately. Allow whoever is eating to open their own parcel – that’s the magic and the drama!