The easiest and tastiest smoked mackerel pate
We’ve lived in Suffolk now for just over a month, and in that time we’ve eaten much smoked mackerel from Southwold harbour. As sure as oily fish needs to be seasoned generously with acidity, we’ve plough our way through several bottles of Aspall’s vinegar. This recipe makes use of their organic cyder vinegar - a world class product form Suffolk - and you’ll need to prep a batch of our creamy all-purpose dressing before getting started.
This open sandwich is simple to make and yet the flavours are very refined and utterly delicious for a summer lunch. The ‘flavour work’ has been taken care of in advance by the creamy all-purpose dressing - it’s laced with fresh chives, Aspall’s organic cyder vinegar, and a little garlic. This dressing seasons the smoked mackerel perfectly offering you mackerel pate in a matter of minutes.
Once you’ve made a batch of the dressing, why not try our Vegcentric Summer Caesar?
We’ve added some quick pickled shallots for that acidic high note to help cut through the oily fish. Peppery watercress dressed with some olive oil and a few tablespoons of the creamy all-purpose dressing make a lovely side dish here. Any bread can work well, but thickly cut rye sourdough is especially good.
Prep time: 10-15 minutes (exc. preparing a batch of creamy all-purpose dressing)
Cook time: 5 minutes
This recipe serves 4 as a main course.
Ingredients :
4 fillets smoked mackerel
8 tbsp creamy all-purpose dressing
½ teaspoon sea salt
½ teaspoon cracked black pepper
4 thick slices sourdough
4 large handfuls watercress
1 tbsp olive oil
¼ cucumber, to serve
12 radishes, to serve
For the pickled shallots
12 shallots
50 g sugar
125 ml (½ cup) Aspall red wine vinegar
125 ml (½ cup) water
1 tsp flaky sea salt
Method:
Start by making the pickled shallots. Bring the red wine vinegar, water, sugar and sea salt to simmer in a small saucepan.
Meanwhile, peel and finely slice the shallots into thin rounds.
Swirl the pan to make sure the sugar is dissolved. Once at a simmer turn off the heat and throw in the sliced shallots. These will soften slightly and pickle in the residual heat.
Remove the skin from the mackerel fillets and trim out the central spine to remove the bones; try to waste as little flash as possible.
In a large mixing bowl combine the flaked mackerel with 6 tablespoons of creamy all-purpose dressing, ½ teaspoon of flaky sea salt and a very generous twist of ground black pepper. Use a fork to mix things and leave plenty of texture.
When you are ready to eat, toast the sourdough until lightly charred and crunchy, and dress the watercress with 2 tablespoons of creamy all purpose dressing and 1 tablespoon of olive oil.
If you are serving with sliced cucumber and radishes, prepare these now.
Spread your mackerel pâté onto the sourdough toast in a generous layer and top with lots of pickled shallot rings. Garnish with a little chopped curly parsley, a twist of black pepper and the watercress salad.
