Provincetown Portuguese Cookbook

Peixe

Spicy Salt Cod Cakes with Chouriço and Stewed Fava Beans | Essence - Rustic Rub | Cod Fish Cakes | Boiled Codfish Dinner | Codfish Casserole | Cod Fish Salad | Brazilian Fish Stew | Marinated Fish Steaks in Spicy Wine Sauce | Tim's Portuguese Codfish | Amêijoas Na Cataplana | Amêijoas Bulho Pato | Sea Clam Casserole | Portuguese Clams and Rice | Moon's Mussels | Shrimp Cake | Catfish Vinho D'Alhos | Joyce's Stuffed Flounder | Clara's Flounder | Stuffed Squid | Madeira Squid Stew with Couscous | Tillie's Mackerel | Portuguese Fish Bake

Sarda

Clotilda Medeiros Steele

Mackerel is a very oily, full-flavored fish, not to everybody's liking. My mother-in-law loved it. One night she invited us to dinner and said we would be having mackerel. I tried to beg off, telling her I hated mackerel. She convinced me I'd love hers, even after she told me how it would be prepared. She was right. The milk and cheese disappeared along with the heavy, oily taste. These ingredients may sound weird, but believe me, the mackerel is none the worse for them.

8 mackerel fillets

Flour

Salt and pepper

11/2 to 2 cups of milk

8 slices American cheese

Dredge the mackerel fillets in flour, salt and pepper. Lay them in a buttered baking dish. Do not overlap. Pour the milk over the fish and place a slice of cheese on top. The milk and the cheese will disappear, taking with it the oiliness, but not the mackerel's the flavor.

Bake at 350° for 25 minutes.

Serves 4.