Great to go with crackers or on toast.
This is very quick to make and adaptable. If you’re not keen on smoked fish, add more cheese. If you love smoked fish either reduce the cheese or just eat the fish as is.
Mrs S did the camerawork, thanks to her for helping!
Ingredients
2 smoked mackerel fillets
100g cream cheese (Philadelphia or other)
Horseradish sauce or fresh horseradish (optional)
Cayenne pepper (half a teaspoon or so)
Fresh parsley
Crackers to serve
Butter, if you’re going to keep it for a while.
Simply add the ingredients to a food processor and whizz up to the desired consistency. You can keep a few flakes back if you want a few lumps.
I’m not keen on horseradish, but Mrs S loves it. So there are two versions of this, one with and one without.
If you want to keep the pâté for a while, put some in a ramekin. If you’re like us you may have a cupboard full of empty Gü pots – these make excellent ramekins for pâté. Melt some butter in a pan and pour a thin layer over the pâté. This should keep for three days, though it never lasts quite that long in our house.
You can get smoked mackerel with black peppercorns on – this can also be used but will obviously add pepper to the flavour. And you can add black pepper instead of cayenne or paprika if you want that sharpness that black pepper brings.
The crackers are Tesco’s own salt and pepper crackers. These are some of the best I’ve ever had, they bring out cheese flavours in a way that few other crackers do. They aren’t as good a Peter’s Yard sourdough crackers, but also not quite as expensive.
Grim up North Heath 