Culinary Advisor
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Smoked Trout Pâté with Dill
Created by Chef Thomas
Hot-smoked trout folded roughly with crème fraîche, horseradish, and dill, the kind of thing you put together in ten minutes and then wonder why you don't make it every week.
The trout was in the fridge from Saturday's market. Two fillets, still in their paper, the skin golden and taut from the smokehouse. I'd bought them without a plan, which is often the best way to buy fish. The plan arrives later, usually around six o'clock, when someone is hungry and you need something good in a quarter of an hour.
This is barely a recipe. You break the fish apart with your fingers, fold it through crème fraîche with some horseradish and dill, squeeze lemon over it, and put it on the table with toast. The whole thing takes ten minutes if you stop to make tea halfway through. It's lighter than mackerel pâté, more delicate, with a sweetness to the smoke that the horseradish cuts through cleanly.
I keep coming back to it because it solves the particular problem of people arriving before you've had time to cook. A bowl of this, some good bread, a few cornichons if you have them, and nobody is going hungry while you work out what else to do. I wrote it down in the notebook once as "trout, cream, dill, Friday, enough." It was.
The dill matters. Not as decoration, but as a proper ingredient, grassy and sweet and slightly anise-scented, running through the whole thing. Use it generously. A recipe is a conversation, not a contract, and this one is mostly about the fish and what you put next to it.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary AdvisorIngredients
hot-smoked trout fillets
Quantity
250g
crème fraîche
Quantity
150g
fresh horseradish
Quantity
1-2 teaspoons
finely grated
lemon
Quantity
half
juiced
fresh dill
Quantity
small bunch
fronds picked and roughly chopped
fine sea salt
Quantity
to taste
black pepper
Quantity
to taste
good toast or sourdough
Quantity
to serve
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| hot-smoked trout fillets | 250g |
| crème fraîche | 150g |
| fresh horseradishfinely grated | 1-2 teaspoons |
| lemonjuiced | half |
| fresh dillfronds picked and roughly chopped | small bunch |
| fine sea salt | to taste |
| black pepper | to taste |
| good toast or sourdough | to serve |
Equipment Needed
- •Mixing bowl
- •Fork
- •Microplane or fine grater (for fresh horseradish)
Instructions
- 1
Break up the trout
Peel away the skin from the trout fillets and discard it. Break the fish into a bowl, using your fingers rather than a knife. You want some pieces chunky and others falling into flakes. A pâté with texture is more interesting than one blended to a paste. Pick through as you go and pull out any fine bones. You'll find them by feel.
Hot-smoked trout is what you want here, not cold-smoked. Hot-smoked is the cooked, flaky sort that comes apart in your hands. Cold-smoked is the silky, cured kind you'd lay over a bagel. Different creatures entirely. - 2
Fold in the crème fraîche
Add the crème fraîche and fold it through the fish gently. You're not making a mousse. You want to see pale streaks running through the pink, not a uniform colour. Add the horseradish, starting with a teaspoon. It should warm the back of your throat without overwhelming the trout, which is a gentle fish and doesn't need shouting at.
- 3
Season and finish
Squeeze in the lemon juice. It brightens everything. Add most of the chopped dill, keeping a little back for the top. Season with salt and pepper, then taste it on a piece of bread, because that's how it'll be eaten. Adjust the lemon, the horseradish, the salt. This is where it becomes yours. Spoon it into a bowl, scatter the remaining dill over the top, and serve with good toast.
Always taste a spread on what you'll eat it with. A pâté that seems perfectly seasoned off a spoon can taste flat on bread. The bread absorbs and mutes. Season accordingly.
Chef Tips
- •Source your trout from a proper fishmonger or a good smokehouse if you can. The supermarket sort is fine, but the difference between mass-produced smoked fish and something from a small smokery is the difference between a meal you remember and one you don't.
- •Fresh horseradish is worth seeking out. Grate it finely on a Microplane and add it by the half-teaspoon, tasting as you go. The heat varies wildly from root to root. If you can only get the prepared sort from a jar, that works too, but start cautiously. Some brands are fierce.
- •This improves after half an hour in the fridge. The flavours settle and the texture firms slightly. If you're making it for a dinner party, do it an hour ahead and forget about it. One less thing to think about when people arrive.
- •A few cornichons alongside, or some pickled shallots, will cut through the richness. Something sharp and vinegary next to something smoky and creamy is a reliable friendship.
Advance Preparation
- •Can be made up to a day ahead and kept covered in the fridge. The flavour deepens as it sits. Give it a stir and a taste before serving, and adjust the lemon and seasoning if needed.
- •Bring it out of the fridge fifteen minutes before serving. Cold dulls flavour, and this deserves to be tasted at cool room temperature rather than straight from the shelf.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 85g)
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