Recipes - Dinner

Smoked mackerel and horseradish cream with avocado relish and brown pitta bread

Ingredients

4 pieces of brown pitta bread

1 clove garlic, cut in half

75ml extra virgin olive oil

6 fillets smoked mackerel (approx. 125g each)

For the avocado relish:

3 Hass avocados, skin and stone removed and roughly diced

½ small cucumber, seeds removed and diced

1 Granny Smith apple, peeled and diced finely

2 spring onions, finely sliced

Juice of a lemon

A small handful flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped

For the horseradish cream:

100g crème fraîche

2-3 heaped tsp freshly grated horseradish or good quality horseradish sauce

Squeeze of lemon juice

Dash of olive oil

A good pinch of sea salt and a good grinding of black pepper

Serves

4 as a light lunch

Preparation Time:

30mins

Method
  1. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C. In a small bowl mix all the horseradish cream ingredients together and taste for seasoning, adding more salt, pepper or lemon juice if you think it needs it.
  2. Mix all the avocado relish ingredients together starting with the juice of half a lemon and only adding more if you think the relish needs sharpening up a little. Set aside. Cut the pittas open along the long edge with a sharp knife and then cut each one in half across the middle. Brush the pieces with olive oil and toast in the oven until golden brown all over, about 5 minutes, watching them like a hawk as they burn very easily! Remove from the oven and immediately rub the garlic gently over the warm toast to give it the merest hint of garlicky flavour.
  3. Break up the mackerel into small chunks and mix it into the horseradish cream. If needed, season with a little more lemon juice and a good sprinkling of chopped parsley. Stuff the mackerel into the pittas and top with the avocado relish. Serve at once whilst the pittas are still crisp.