Mother’s Day recipe – smoked mackerel rillette, croutons and salsa

Our Head Chef at Culzean Castle & Country Park, Scott Murdoch first came up with this dish while he was working in Cornwall as a sous chef, at a restaurant which offered a five-course tasting menu for lunch. Scott used to smoke his own mackerel, as every day the local fisherman would deliver it fresh to the restaurant. Just as we do at Culzean, the restaurant also had its own walled garden, from which Scott would pick ingredients to use in the kitchen, including beautiful cherry tomatoes growing in the greenhouse. Since then, Scott has used this dish in every place he has worked as it’s so simple to prepare – and very, very tasty!

The smoked mackerel rillette features on our wedding menu here at Culzean, and Scott will be serving the dish for Mother’s Day as a special.

Recipe

Smoked mackerel rillette

Ingredients

• 500g smoked mackerel
• 100g Greek yoghurt
• 10–25g coriander
• Lemon juice 1/2
• Black pepper to taste
• 55–75g shallots

Method

1. Skin the mackerel and remove any bones.
2. Finely dice the shallots, and roughly chop the coriander.
3. Add into bowl and mix all ingredients together, until it has a coarse pate-like consistency.