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Dinner

Smoked Mackerel Pasta with Leek and Lemon

Pasta with softened leek, peas and flaked smoked mackerel in a sauce of quark, lemon zest and a lot of black pepper. 35 g of protein for 590 kcal.

Calories
590kcal
Protein
35g
Fat
23g
Carbs
60g

Per serving, makes 1. 20 minutes of work. Published 8 September 2026.

Allergens

  • Gluten
  • Milk
  • Fish

Flags follow UK labelling rules and come from the ingredients as listed, not from any particular brand. Check the packet before cooking for somebody with an allergy.

Ingredients

  • Pasta65 g

    Dry weight. Cooked, it is about 2.2 times heavier.

  • Smoked mackerel80 g

    As sold. Most of the fat in any dish it is in.

  • Leek100 g
  • Quark60 g

    Quark makes a sauce that looks like cream at a tenth of the fat. It splits if it boils, so it goes in off the heat.

  • Frozen peas60 g
  • Olive oil spray3 sprays, about 0.75 g

    Counted at a quarter of a gram per spray, which is what the nozzle on most bottles delivers. Four sprays is 9 kcal.

  • Lemon zestOf one lemon
  • Black pepperA great deal

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Method

  1. Cook the pasta in salted water according to the packet, adding the peas for the last three minutes. Keep a cup of the water before draining.

  2. Soften the sliced leek in a sprayed pan over a low heat for ten minutes while the pasta cooks.

  3. Take the pan off the heat, stir in the quark, the lemon zest and a splash of the pasta water until it is a loose sauce.

  4. Add the drained pasta and peas, then the mackerel in flakes with the skin removed. Toss gently and finish with black pepper.

Worth knowing

  • Sixty-five grams of dry pasta is about 160 g cooked, a moderate portion. The mackerel is the richest thing in the bowl at 23 g of fat for the plate.
  • Lemon zest rather than juice. Juice curdles the quark; zest does the same job for flavour and leaves the sauce alone.

More like this

Other dinner recipes that share ingredients with this one, or every dinner between 450 and 600 calories a serving.

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Macros are calculated from the weights listed above using standard food composition values, and will shift with your own brands and measuring. Weigh what you can. This is a recipe, not dietary advice. The full health disclaimer is below.