Happy Friday! It has been a short week but after a nice long 4 day Easter weekend it has felt like a
long week!
On a visit to my local supermarket last week I was happy and surprised to find some fresh smoked mackerel. You can tell that I have been in Berlin for far too long when I get excited about seeing some smoked fish! Obviously this meant that I couldn’t leave the supermarket without buying the mackerel – I mean this is Berlin, you might not see it in the supermarket again for another year or so..
As this was an impulse buy and my schedule already packed with not much time to make a starter for dinner I had to come up with something quick and easy to make. And quick and easy it is!
Kick start the weekend with this Friday treat. A starter that is easy to prepare, light, refreshing and tastes delicious.
Have a good weekend! x
Ingredients: serves 2
250g smoked mackerel
200g crème fraîche
juice of half a lemon
fresh dill (plus extra for garnish)
black pepper
4 slices of ciabatta
For the chilli oil:
I always keep some in my store cupboard – here is the easy recipe
Flake the mackerel into a small mixing bowl. Add the crème fraîche, lemon juice, black pepper and a handful of fresh dill. Put into a food processor and whizz until it
forms a thick paste.
Heat a griddle pan and once hot add the slices of ciabatta. Cook on each side for around 3 minutes. Alternatively you can use your grill.
If you do not have any chilli oil in your cupboard then just add about 5 tbpsn olive oil with 1 tspn dried chilli flakes and mix in a small bowl.
Take the bread off the heat. Lay out each plate and put the mackerel pâté into a cooks ring (or a deep round cookie cutter), then carefully remove the ring to have a circle of pâté in the middle of the plate. Plate up the ciabatta slices on the side and garnish with fresh dill and a bit more black pepper.
Carefully drizzle the chilli oil lightly over the plate and enjoy!
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