Mackerel and Seaweed Pâté is a traditional British recipe for a wild food pâté made from baked mackerel with wild flavourings blended with seaweed in a crème fraîche and lemon juice base. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic British version of: Mackerel and Seaweed Pâté.
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As an example of how to bake the mackerel, I collected 6 differing sized burdock leaves, a good handful of wild grass, fresh elderflowers and used some sea arrowgrass that I picked up while in Cumbria earlier in the week; sea arrowgrass is similar in flavour/fragrance to coriander, with hints of lemongrass and green grasses.
I washed the burdock leaves and fitted them in a deep metal roasting tin, laid dampened grass on top, followed by fresh elderflower sprays, I placed the cleaned/gutted mackerel on top, scoring the sides of the fish and filled those with sections of sea arrowgrass, I also filled the belly cavity with crushed sea arrowgrass and fresh elderflowers. I poured on some primrose mead, scattered some wild scots lovage & fennel on top and then covered the fish with the same herbs but in reverse, enclosing it all with the remaining burdock leaves. I popped it into a pre-heated oven at 180 degrees C & baked them for approx 30 minutes.
Remove the skin and bones from the mackerel then flake the flesh and put into a heat-proof bowl.
In a pan, add the butter, two very finely chopped cloves of garlic, a pinch of mace, cayenne pepper & fresh ground black pepper — this infuses the butter with flavour while softening the garlic. After 3-4 minutes remove from the heat and pour onto the mackerel, mix well.
Add the créme fraîche, lemon juice, powdered seaweed and mix thoroughly (add a little salt and tweak with the other spices until you find the flavour you require) with the mackerel.
4) Once satisfied with the taste & consistency put the pate into ramekins, or dishes if you so fancy. If storing in the fridge for a couple of days (flavours will develop better if you do), melt some more butter in pan and pour it over the surface of the pate.
Leave to cool then transfer to your refrigerator and chill for at least two hours.
Garnish with sea salt, quatre algues and smoked paprika immediately before serving
