Smoked mackerel pâté with griddled toast and cress salad

Categories: December

Ingredients

• 400g smoked mackerel
• 200g cream cheese
• finely grated zest and juice of 1 lemon, plus lemon wedges to serve
• small bunch of fresh flatleaf parsley, leaves picked
• 2 small punnets of cress, snipped
• 2 celery sticks, finely sliced, plus some celery leaves
• extra-virgin olive oil
• 6 slices of bread

Directions

1. Peel the skin off the smoked mackerel and discard. Put the fish in a food processor, breaking it up slightly as you go. Add the cream cheese, lemon zest, most of the lemon juice and a few leaves of parsley. Whizz for 20 seconds or so, until creamy. Season to taste.

2. Toss the snipped cress, remaining parsley leaves and celery leaves together in a large bowl, and add the celery sticks. Dress with the remaining lemon juice, a splash of extra-virgin olive oil and some salt and pepper.

3. Heat a griddle pan. When hot, add the bread, in batches, and press down with something heavy like a frying pan so the bread is squashed against the griddle ridges. Toast for about 1 minute, turning halfway.

4. Serve the pâté with the griddled toast, the herb salad and lemon wedges.

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