Smoked mackerel pate with melba toast

Preparation

• 1
  1. Remove the skin from the mackerel and ensure that all the bones have been taken out. Break the fish up into pieces and place in a food processor. Spoon in the cottage cheese and the Greek yoghurt, and blend together. Stop and scrape the sides with a spatula to make sure everything is combined and blend again.
• 2
  2. Squeeze a lemon, add half of the juice and blend until smooth. Add more of the juice if needed
• 3
  I used all of it last time I made this.
• 4
  3. Take out the blade from the processor, or transfer the mixture to a bowl. Grate in some fresh nutmeg and grind in salt and pepper to season to taste, and stir to combine.
• 5
  4. Spoon the mixture into ramekins, cover them with clingfilm and place them in the fridge to chill for a few hours. Don’t worry if it looks a bit sloppy at this stage, it should firm up as it chills.
• 6
  5. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees, or 160 degrees fan oven. Take the slices of bread – fairly thick slices from a sliced loaf seem to work well – and toast on both sides until light brown. I used wholemeal bread, but white bread works just as well. Carefully slice the crusts off and split the slices of bread through the middle, in between the toasted sides. Gently scrape away any bits of dough left. Place on a baking sheet and bake in the preheated oven until the toast has curled up and is golden brown all over, probably about 10 minutes.
• 7
  6. Dust the pate with a little cayenne pepper and serve with the melba toast, a wedge of lemon and a handful of watercress.
• 8
  This pate has a smooth texture but, if you prefer a rougher texture, keep back some of the flaked mackerel and mix it in just before spooning the pate into the ramekins.
• 9
  There are many variations of smoked mackerel pate, and there are a number of alternative ingredients that you can use. Some recipes use cream cheese or ricotta instead of the cottage cheese for a richer flavour, and replace the Greek yogurt with fromage fraiche or sour cream. Some include fresh or creamed horseradish, and others add herbs to the mixture, such as chives, dill or parsley. The choice is yours!