Flip's smoked mackerel paté
Named, aptly, after my mother's close friend, who handed down the recipe. Flip is an extraordinarily good cook-her mince pies are famous-and everytime I've visited she's been calmy whipping up a feast for whoever is visiting that day. This chunky paté takes just minutes, can be made up in advance and requires only a few ingredients. Perfect for all those visitors.
Serves 2 as a main, 4 as a starter or snack
Ingredients:
270g cream cheese
1 heaped tsp sumac
Juice from half a lemon
200g smoked mackerel
Handful roughly chopped parsley
Salt
Black pepper
Method: In a medium sized mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, sumac and lemon juice until smooth and evenly combined.
Use a knife and fork to roughly shred the mackerel fillets and add to the cheese mixture, along with the parsley. Most supermarkets now offer a range of different smoked mackerel flavours-including peppered, honey smoked, whisky smoked...-and these will all work just as well as the plainer options.
Stir in the mackerel and parsley, season to taste and transfer into a smaller serving bowl. You can serve the finished pate as part of a larger lunch selection or on it's own, spooned onto large hunks of bread (a whole-wheat, multi-seed bloomer works really well.)
