Simple Smoked Mackerel Pate

Smoked mackerel is something we like to eat and is a good source of lots of vitamins and healthy oils.  As Sous Chef J is a big fan of dips, we thought we'd try to make a dip-like pate for a speedy lunch.
 
We started by gathering the ingredients we were going to use, which were:

• 1 pack/(about) 280g smoked mackerel fillets (we used plain but peppered could also be used)
• 200g cream cheese
• 1 Tbsp of creme fraiche
• juice of half a lemon
We also added (but these can be left out if you prefer):
• 1/2 tsp jarred horseradish (you can add more, to taste)
• black peppercorns (lightly crushed) if not using peppered fillets

We began by removing the skin from the mackerel fillets. Usually the skin peels straight off

but, if you need to, you can scrape any remaining skin off with a sharp knife or back of a spoon.
 
 

Next the fish was broken up and checked to make sure we removed any obvious bones.
 
 
 
Then we put the mackerel, cream cheese and creme fraiche (this is when you add any additional ingredients if you're using them) into our blender and whizzed until it was combined.  

 
At this point we added half of the lemon juice, whizzed again, checked the flavour and added the rest as we like 'zingy' foods.
 
Once we were happy with the taste, and it was fully mixed, some was spooned into serving bowl.  The remainder was placed in jam jars in the fridge for another day - the mixture was a little runny but soon firmed up in the fridge. 
 

It's speedy to make and we ate some of ours immediately.  The rest was kept the fridge and eaten within 3 days.
 
We served ours with ready salted crisps, but it is also tasty with crusty toast or toasted pitta breads.