Smoked Mackerel Pate
This week when I was watching the Great British Bake Off, They had a 70s week, and the contestants had to reproduce cakes from that era.
During the 1970s I worked in London an in the latter part in Lambeth social services. Every week I would meet up with two friends in one of our three homes we would cook supper from scratch as we were all keen cooks and watch Brideshead revisited.
When I look back at the food we cooked it was typical from that era, we always made three courses, spaghetti Bolognese, quiche, chilli con carne, for main course, Black Forest gateau, Sherry trifle, profiteroles, were the popular desserts, but for starters we seemed rotate, French onion soup, Gazpacho, melon cocktail or smoked mackerel pate.
I haven't made Smoked Mackerel Pate, For a long time but after buying some smoked mackerel recently, I made it yesterday it was delicious, and it brought back all the memories of that era.
I have given you a dairy free recipe, because I cannot eat dairy food, but you can substitute the plant yoghurt for natural Greek yoghurt if you want a dairy version of this.
Ingredients. Serves 4 to 6 people
1 packet of smoked Mackerel (2 fillets) you can use plain or peppered if you use the peppered don't add additional pepper to the recipe.
1 small red onion peeled
2 large cloves of garlic peeled
Half a small bunch of fresh dill plus some for décor
half a small bunch a fresh parsley
The juice of ¼ a lemon
½ a teaspoon ground black pepper
½ teaspoon sea salt
2 generous tablespoons of plant based Greek yoghurt, or natural Greek yoghurt without any sweetening agent.
Method
Remove the skin and any bones from the smoked mackerel, put it in a food processor, Add all the other ingredients holding back some of the dill for serving.
Blend everything together till it is smooth but you don't want it like baby food. Check the seasoning and adjust it. Then transfer it into a fridge dish with an airtight lid
Serve either as a starter, with crusty bread or fingers of warm toast, or as a snack for lunch. It last for up to four days in the fridge, it can be frozen, but it must be defrosted slowly unstirred before serving you might need to add a teaspoon of yoghurt to it before serving.