I bought a 200g packet of smoked mackerel fillets and wondered how I could stretch them into lovely meals for 2. The first one I tried was this recipe for mackerel pâté that is super simple and very delicious.
What do I need to make mackerel pâté
- smoked mackerel fillet – about half a fillet, or 50g. There are many different flavours f smoked fillet, use whichever one you like
- lemon zest – finely grated, about a teaspoon. If you don’t have a lemon, just leave it out
- black pepper – a few grinds. As for the lemon zest, it’s not vital, so if you don’t have any, don’t worry
- soft cheese – I use the cheapest, own brand soft cheese from any supermarket
- to serve – crudités. This is 150g each of any vegetables that you think will go with it. Or a slice or two of good bread, pitta, muffin etc
How to make mackerel pâté
Remove the mackerel fillets from the packaging, remove the skin from a fillet and cut into half. You should have 50g of mackerel.
Flake the mackerel by cutting and mashing with a fork. Mix the fish with 100g of soft cheese, add a little black pepper and a tsp lemon juice.
If you are going to have crudités, you need about 150g of raw vegetables cut into batons and strips. I have priced this recipe using carrot batons. but you could have any one, or a mixture, of many different vegetables.
- for example:-
- any colour capsicum pepper
- carrots
- cucumber
- radish
- Chinese cabbage
- cauliflower sprigs
- broccoli florets
- celery
This easy smoked mackerel pâté would also be lovely piled into a pitta bread, or with hot, buttery strips of pitta, used as a sandwich filling, a yummy jacket potato topping or stirred through pasta. It is very portable for a packed lunch too.
Recipes using smoked mackerel
I now have three other half fillets and wondered if I could make something nice with them that would also fit into the ethos of what we do here. I Googled ‘cheap mackerel fillet recipes’ and lots of yummy ideas came up – I don’t feel I’ve got enough fillet left now to try them all! Here is what I actually made with the remaining fillets. Apologies for the rubbish posts – I’ve only updated this one so far, I’ll do this others as soon as I can.
Half fillet one – Mackerel pâté and crudités – this post
Half fillet two – Mackerel pate and pasta
Half fillet three – Smoked mackerel and roasted beetroot salad
Half fillet four – Mackerel kedgeree
Ingredients
- 50 g smoked mackerel £1.99/200g, 50p
- 100 g soft cheese 99p/200g, 50p
- black pepper
- 1 tsp lemon juice 1p
- 300 g carrots 40p/kg, 12p
Instructions
- Remove the mackerel fillets from the packaging, remove the skin from a fillet and cut into half. You should have 50 g smoked mackerel
- Flake the mackerel by cutting and mashing with a fork.
- Mix the fish with with 100 g soft cheese, add a little black pepper and 1 tsp lemon juice.
Crudités
- Cut 300 g carrots into batons. If they are in good condition, there is no need to peel
- Serve the pate and batons together
Notes
- for example:-
- any colour capsicum pepper
- carrots
- cucumber
- radish
- Chinese cabbage
- cauliflower sprigs
- broccoli florets
- celery
Other recipes using the remaining smoked mackerel fillet
- Half fillet one – Mackerel pate and crudites – this post
- Half fillet two – Mackerel pate and pasta
- Half fillet three – Smoked mackerel and roasted beetroot salad
- Half fillet four – Mackerel kedgeree
Elaine – ooh yes, mackerel would be lovely
I think the pate would work with tinned mackerel too. There are quite a few flavoured varieties so that would give variety. Asda do a lower fat garlic and herb soft cheese, I would think maybe other supermarkets do too? That would also make it interesting and lower the calorie content for dieters ie me.