May recipe: Smoked salmon pate

Smoked salmon pate

This wonderfully quick and easy recipe is perfect as a sandwich filler or as part of a spring/summer picnic.

You can vary the herbs as you like, so if you can’t get chives or don’t like chives, you can substitute another fresh green herb of your choice.

Smoked salmon pate

4 oz (approx 100 g) smoked salmon

4 oz (approx 100 g) cream cheese

1-2 Tablespoons (1-2 x 15 ml spoons) single cream

Salt and pepper

2 Tablespoons (2 x 15 ml spoons) chopped fresh chives

Roughly chop the smoked salmon.

Mix the chopped salmon, cream cheese and 1 Tablespoon of single cream in a blender or food processor, and process to the desired texture.  I like this pate fairly coarse, with distinct pieces of smoked salmon, but if you prefer it completely smooth, just blend it for longer.

Alternatively, if you don’t have a blender, chop the smoked salmon finely with a sharp knife and then beat the chopped salmon into the cream cheese and 1 Tablespoon of single cream with a wooden spoon.

Add a little more single cream if the pate is too stiff (different varieties of cream cheese seem to vary in texture).

Season with salt and black pepper to taste, and stir in the chopped chives.

Pack the pate into a pot or serving dish and refrigerate for an hour or two.

Serve on bread, toast, oatcakes etc.

This pate will keep for a week or so in the fridge.  It does not freeze.