Snack Better: Hot-Smoked Salmon Pâté
Chef Nathan Outlaw has a new collection of seafood recipes out, with a focus on budget and nature-friendly dishes the home cook will love making over and over again. This hot-smoked salmon pâté is an impressive starter that will delight your guests. From fresh salads and simple fish fillets to more complex entrées requiring a bit of technique, there are tons of delicious things in Everyday Seafood for you.
Salmon and whiskey is a pairing I've been serving in various ways since I opened my first restaurant, Black Pig, in 2003. Good quality hot-smoked salmon is available from good delis, supermarkets, and online — it's well-worth buying superior smoked fish, because the texture and flavor will be better. If whiskey isn't your thing, you could use the same recipe to create a beet jelly, swapping the whiskey for beet juice.
- 14 ounces hot-smoked salmon
- Finely grated zest and juice of 1 lime
- 3 1/2 ounces full-fat cream cheese
- 2/3 cup full-fat Greek yogurt
- 1 tablespoon creamed horseradish
- sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 2 sheets bronze gelatin
- 7/8 cup Laphroaig single malt or similar Scotch whiskey
- 3 1/4 tablespoons superfine sugar
- 12 slices rye bread
- Grated zest of 1 lime
- To make the pâté, put the hot-smoked salmon into a food processor with the lime juice and blitz for 20 seconds. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the cream cheese, yogurt, horseradish, lime zest, and some salt and pepper. Blitz for 1 minute: you want the pâté to be almost smooth, with a little texture from the salmon. Divide between 6 ramekins or other small dishes, cover and refrigerate.
- To make the jelly, soak the gelatin in a shallow dish of ice water for about 5 minutes to soften. Put the whiskey and sugar into a pan, and heat gently until the sugar has dissolved, and the liquor is almost at a simmer.
- Remove the gelatin leaves from the dish, and squeeze out the excess water. Add to the whiskey, off the heat, and stir until melted. Leave to cool completely, but don’t let it set.
- Pour the cooled, liquid jelly evenly on top of the pâté and return to the fridge to set.
- Take the pâté out of the fridge around 20 minutes before serving, so that it comes to room temperature.
- When ready to eat, toast the rye bread. Sprinkle the lime zest over the pâté, and serve immediately, with the toast.