Smoked Trout Paté

This became a staple, party dip in my family growing up as it was always such a crowd pleaser and yet it was so simple! You could make this with 3 ingredients really and it is still delicious- the extra touches just add more depth to it.

Substitute the smoked trout with hot smoked salmon (not a Gravlax style) any time too – both work amazingly.  This has recently become a more readily available product since trout’s longevity. The Hot Smoked Salmon Paté was a similarly beautiful dip served at the launch of my friend Jo Cooper’s book “Our Tamarama Kitchen”, and features on page 52 in her book.

Pictured: Smoked Trout Paté

1 packet smoked trout – either a packet with 2 fillets, or a whole trout that you will remove the fillets from.

150ml Crème Fraîche or sour cream

Juice of ½ lemon – 1 lemon - I don’t like to overdo the lemon personally as I love the flavour of the trout and it can take over, so try ½ a lemon first and add more at the end if you feel it is missing

Optional – add either1 tbsp fresh dill or chopped chives 

Or as Jo suggests you can also add some minced horseradish (2 tsp or so) to add some lovely kick to it.

I make this very quick and place all ingredients in a blender that has a good pulse action – you want to keep as much texture to this as possible so blitz it just until it has mixed together then stop.

If you do not have a good blender then mash everything with a fork until it is well mixed and even without any large bits of fish. You may prefer it smooth also – go ahead if you do!

Taste for lemon zing and seasoning –adding a little sea salt is lovely but not much as the fish is normally a little salty already – a good pinch of pepper is great.

Makes almost 2 cups to serve 6 – 8 as a nibble