This week I am taking one ingredient, smoked mackerel, and using it to make three cheap but delicious family suppers. Smoked mackerel is bursting with good omega-3 oils, making it a useful brain food. And it is believed that omega-3s also have the potential to fight low moods.

I adore its rich flavour and grew fond of it when I was at university, when I discovered how versatile it was. You can spread flaky chunks of oily, smoky mackerel, mixed with crème fraîche, on toast to make rillettes.

Or stir them into the flesh of a piping hot baked potato with a crispy, crunchy skin, scatter it all with a handful of finely chopped chives, or some wild garlic, if you can still find some in the woods, and add a grating of a good mature cheddar for luck. Pair the spuds with a fresh green salad and you have the makings of a first-class supper. Not bad considering the low cost involved (mackerel fillets are about 70p each), and most of the ingredients are probably already in the larder.

Mackerel also lends itself well to oriental flavours. Make up a Japanese dressing of sesame oil and soy sauce (which lasts a good few weeks in the fridge) to coat couscous or noodles, some fresh vegetables and the rich chunks of fish and you have a fast, nutritious and balanced supper. Finally, pair the smoky flesh with spring onions, cooked on the grill. It's a lovely match and can be pulled together in next to no time.

Food like this is hard to beat while the best of the summer vegetables have still not come into season. Even fresh mackerel should not be eaten until June or July to avoid damaging their stock levels (any earlier and the fish are spawning). Come July, August, September and October, I'll be tucking in with relish but, in the meantime, I'll settle for smoked.

Mackerel rillettes, with char-grilled spring onions

Prep time: 25 mins;

cook time: 5 mins;

Serves 4

Mash the flesh of two large fillets of smoked mackerel with two forks to get rough, textured-looking flakes. Stir in two big tablespoons of chopped parsley, 100ml crème fraîche and a tablespoon of horseradish cream. Grate in the zest and juice of half a lemon and season with plenty of freshly ground black pepper. Top and tail two dozen spring onions and remove the outer skins. Season well with salt and pepper and drizzle on a little olive oil. Heat a char-grill until it is smoking hot and cook the spring onions until they are slightly charred on the outside and cooked through. Season with a dash of red wine vinegar. Toast slices of sourdough and spread with the mackerel rillettes. Either top them with the spring onions or serve separately.

Oriental couscous and mackerel salad

Serves 4

Steam a head of broccoli until just cooked and cut up into small pieces. Cut three spring onions in half and then into fine slivers. Pour boiling vegetable stock over 250g couscous, season well with salt and pepper and leave to expand for five minutes, stirring a fork through it to avoid the couscous clumping. Add a chopped apple, the fennel, finely diced after the tough outer skin has been removed, the sliced chicory bulbs, the broccoli and spring onions. Add two table-spoons of crushed toasted sesame seeds and two heaped tablespoons of chopped parsley and chives. Make a dressing in a well-washed old jam jar of two tablespoons of sesame oil, four tablespoons soy sauce, a teaspoon of horseradish, a teaspoon of sugar and 1 tablespoons of white wine or rice vinegar. Dress the salad and stir in some flakes of mackerel fillet (two fillets will do) before tossing gently and serving.

Baked potatoes with smoked mackerel and chives

Serves 4

Prick four baked potatoes all over with a long skewer. Don a pair of rubber gloves and rub the spuds with a little vegetable oil and then a light scattering of salt. Place in a hot oven (about 220C) and bake for about 70-80 minutes until the skin is crispy. Cut the potatoes open and scoop out the inside flesh. Flake two fillets of smoked mackerel, mix them up with a packet of chives, chopped, 80g butter and a little grated cheddar. Pile the filling back into the potatoes, bake for a further 5-10 minutes while you make a simple green salad and a vinaigrette to serve alongside.

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