Marinated herring - Polish way

My father-in-law is coming today to pay us a visit. It is going to the first time he is coming around to see where we live and I decided to cook for him a truly Polish food (so keep an eye for some Polish recipes popping up over the next few days). My wedding was in Poland and my mum did an amazing job of cooking for all my guests and one thing she did remember from the very busy weekend of cooking and entertaining was my father-in-law love of herring. So I decided to prepare for him herrings Polish way. The recipe is from my mum and I have to say they always taste amazing. I hope that I will manage to convince some of you to try them. They are bit different from what you get in the UK ready of the shelf (less sour).

Polish herrings from Lisner

You will need to try and find a Polish section in your supermarket to locate the herrings. I buy mine in Sainsburry's. That is how the packaging looks (to the left). Try to get Lisner Matjas. They are marinated in oil and taste totally different to what you are used to in the UK. 

Soaking herring

Take them out of packet and rinse under a cold water. Put all the fillets in a bowl of cold water and leave it for a few hours. I try to change water once in between. This way you rinse the excess of salt from the fillets.

Herring cut into small pieces

Once they taste fishy but not too salty cut them into smaller pieces that will be easier to eat. 

Chop one big onion and blanch it in a boiling water. Now you will need a big jar, some lemon juice, dried thyme, ground ginger and vegetable oil.

Jar of herring and onion
ready to got tot he fridge

Layers of herring and onion

In a big jar put a single layer of herring pieces with a bit of lemon juice on top, sprinkle of thyme and ginger (ginger makes every fish taste delicious) and cover it with a layer of onion; and again single layer of herring, lemon, thyme, ginger and onion...until you run out of herrings. Once your jar is full cover it all with oil. With a fork try to release any air bubbles trapped between the layers and again check if you need to add some more oil. Once it is all covered put it in the fridge for a few days. Serve it cold on a hot slice of rye bread accompanied with a shot of a very cold vodka. As we say in Polish "fish likes to swim" so vodka is a must ;) I hope you will love it as much as my father-in-law.