Smoked Mackerel Pate – Quick and Delicious

I have been making this recipe for smoked mackerel pate anytime I need to get a quick, easy, tasty and healthy appetiser or starter prepared a.s.a.p. All in it shouldn’t take more than 5 mins to throw together if you have the ingredients on hand when unexpected guest arrive. This mackerel pate is delicious on toast as snack, as a dip, or as a starter.

Smoked Mackerel Pate

Smoked mackerel should be a fairly common fish to find, certainly in Northern Europe at the supermarket or fish-monger, but I did find that I could only find fresh mackerel when I lived in Houston, so I got my husband to smoke some mackerel for me in the smoker. The easiest type of smoked mackerel to use are pre-filleted mackerel, though you will probably still have to remove the skin yourself, and maybe a few bones. Just note that sometimes the fillets are covered in crushed black peppercorns, which means that you don’t have to add any ground pepper to the recipe. The cheapest method is to buy the whole smoked mackerel and fillet it yourself. Doing it this way, means you can get slightly more meat off the fish.

If you can’t find smoked mackerel, then smoked haddock or smoked salmon can be used instead. Though equally tasty fish they will have a different flavour.

Smoked Mackerel

Smoked Mackerel Pate Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 fillets of smoked mackerel
• 1 tsp of horseradish sauce
• The zest of half a lemon
• 1 tsp of lemon juice
• 150ml of creme fraiche or thick sour cream
• Lots of freshly ground black pepper
• 0.5 tsp of mild chilli powder

Flaked Smoked Mackerel

Method

1. Flake the smoked mackerel fillets into a food processor bowl, discarding the skin and making sure that there are no bones. Don’t worry as mackerel bones are quite big and easy to spot.
2. Add the horseradish, lemon zest, lemon juice, creme fraiche, black pepper & chilli powder to the bowl.
3. Pulse the mixture until the desired smoothness.
4. Turn out into a suitable serving dish and serve immediately with melba toast, crackers or bread. If not serving straight away, putting it in the refrigerator overnight will help improve the flavour.

Smoked Mackerel Pate Ingredients

• 
  Zester
• 
  Lemon juicer
• 
  Smoked Mackerel
• 
  Horseradish Sauce