Smoked mackerel spread with curd cheese and pickled cucumber
The sandwich spread Poland has made for decades: smoked mackerel picked off the bones, mashed with a fork with curd cheese, pickled cucumber, chives and a little mayonnaise. The curd cheese softens the smoke and the oiliness of the fish, the pickle brings acid and crunch. Fifteen minutes, one bowl, four breakfasts on rye bread with radish.
Your own work in that: 15 min.
- Picking the mackerel 7 min
- Mixing 8 min
Step by step
0 / 4 donePick the mackerel
Lay the mackerel on a board and peel off the skin, starting from the tail. Lift the flesh off the backbone in flakes with your fingers and check every piece against the light: small bones hide along the lateral line and near the belly. From 300 g of fish you get about 180 g of flesh.
Ingredients: 300 g smoked mackerel · 200 g curd cheese (twaróg), semi-fat · 2 pcs brined pickled cucumbers · ½ bunch chives · 2 tbsp mayonnaise · ½ pcs lemon, juice · ½ tsp black pepper · 1 pinch salt
TipFreshly smoked mackerel (soft, golden, smelling of smoke, not ammonia) makes all the difference. Hard, dry fish gives a spread that has to be rescued with mayonnaise.
Skinned, in flakes, bones against the lightPrepare the rest
Mash the curd cheese with a fork. Dice the pickles very finely and squeeze the juice out in your hand so the spread isn't watery. Chop the chives, keeping a spoonful back for the top.
Curd cheese, squeezed pickle, chivesMix with a fork
Combine the mackerel, curd cheese, pickle, chives, mayonnaise and lemon juice with a fork, mashing, into a coarse, uneven spread. Don't blend: the pieces of fish and pickle are its character. Season with pepper, taste, and only then add salt if needed; the mackerel and pickles are already salty.
TipWith mayonnaise the spread is richer; with yogurt lighter and tangier. Half and half is the golden mean.
With a fork, coarse, no blenderServe on rye
Spread thickly on the bread, top with radish slices and the rest of the chives. In a sealed container in the fridge it keeps 2 days.
Ingredients: 8 pcs wholemeal or rye bread · 6 pcs radishes
Thick on rye, radish on top
Before you start
With egg
One diced hard-boiled egg and a teaspoon of mustard: a more filling, milder spread.
With roasted pepper
Half a red pepper, roasted, peeled and diced, instead of the pickle: a sweeter, colourful version.
Warm
The same spread on toast with yellow cheese, 5 minutes under the oven grill (top element, about 220 °C), until the cheese melts. Supper from what's left after breakfast.
