Smoked Mackerel Pate With Toasted Pitta Wings
Sooooo easy and delicious. Smoked Mackerel Pate must be the easiest starter ever. Fridge to plate in less than 10 mins. Ive even known some fishphobics love it.
There are bajjilions of recipes for mackerel pate out in recipe webland, and I usually just bung it in a bowl and taste it until I like it. Any combination of cream cheese / lemon / fish works pretty well. Adjust to your own liking really. I’ve added the approximate ingredient quantities I would use for 4 people.
For dinner parties, I tend to serve in individual dishes – for lunch, in a giant mason jar in the middle of the table, with a huge pile of toasted pitta to dig in to.
Ingredients
- 300g Smoked Mackerel
- 150g Cream Cheese
- Zest of 1 lemon
- Lemon juice to taste (I used the juice of 2 lemons, as I like it very zesty)
- Salt and pepper to taste
This made enough for 4 (plus enough leftover for a snack lunch)
Variations
Other things I add occasionally, which also work well: Cayene pepper, chopped capers, horse radish, or very finely chopped spring onions…..(obviously not all together !).
I used to add melted butter to my smoked mackerel pate mix. I think it was ow my mum made it. However this adds massively to the calories, and in my opinion not enough taste to justify them. It also makes the mix much firmer when the butter solidifies, so not so easy to spread. The only exception to this, is if I am making these a few days ahead, or for a present. I will smooth the pate down flat, and pour some clarified butter over the top to seal….they can then stay in the fridge for a week. Just break the butter seal (I discard) and use as normal.
Method
Remove the skin and any odd bones that may still be on the mackerel, before crumbling / flaking into a bowl. Add the remainder of the ingredients, and combine with a fork.
I generally serve these as a starter in these cute mini snap mason jars.
But for a lunch with friends, it tends to be a large mason jar or bowl. that we all dive in to.