I first had Mary’s Mackerel Pate at a fabulous lunch she served at her home in Cork, Ireland last year and was pretty chuffed when she shared her recipe with me.
The Mackerel Pate is simple, elegant and perfect for fuss free entertaining, making it a handy recipe to have this festive season. 
I think what makes Mary’s Mackerel Pate special is that she uses Greek yoghurt and not cream cheese. As the glamorous Mary said in her message : “All modern recipes say use cream cheese but I’ve been making this for years this way”. And since I loved it at the lunch I was not going to change it and used Greek yoghurt. 
The smoked fish is quite rich and I feel that adding cream cheese makes it all far too rich. Using yoghurt adds a lighter, tangy flavour to go with the oily richness from the fish. Mary mashes the fish with a fork rather than placing all the ingredients in a blender and processing it to a creamy consistency. Here I agree with Mary again, mashing with a fork adds much needed texture. Mary suggests optional extras such as horseradish, capers and some lemon zest if you have it available. I added all these options and the result is a really delicious pate dolloped on to crackers or spread thickly onto still warm toasted sourdough. 
I hope you enjoy this recipe for a Mary’s Mackerel Pate. Once you’ve made the recipe, please share it with me by tagging and following @heinstirred on Instagram. It is always a treat to see the recipes made and enjoyed.
My pottery shop, Sul Clay, has been restocked with lots of new coffee and espresso cups. It has been months and months of learning and testing and I think I finally have the process sorted and having lots of fun making and decorating. 
What started as a weekend pottery hobby, born from my search for beautiful props for my photography work, has grown into a second career. When I’m not behind the camera, I’m in the pottery studio making. Shipping is available within the UAE, and international shipping is done with Emirates Post but I do need to obtain a quote first.
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Mary's Mackerel Pate
Ingredients
- 150g packet peppered and smoked mackerel fillets skin taken off and mashed with a fork
- 1-2 spring onions chopped finely
- 1/2 clove garlic chopped finely
- 125 g greek yoghurt more if required
- 1 bunch fresh parsley chopped finely
- 1 tsp horseradish sauce more to taste
- 1 tbsp capers finely chopped
- grated rind of a lemon
Instructions
- Mix all the ingredients in a bowl and serve
- Can be made the day before
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