JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: It's my Sunday, which means it's another amazing recipe from our own Celia Wakefield. I have had this smoked trout pate many time, and can assure you it is divine. Take some time to put it together and, of you can't eat it at a lake house, you can enjoy it while sitting with your feet in a tub of cold water with a fan blowing on you!
Alfresco dining? We New Englanders look forward to alfresco weather through the winter and into the spring each year. I like to mark our first breakfast on the deck each year with a photo which I inevitably upload to Facebook to make friends envious both of the morning and of the deck with our lake view. As I write the temperature is in the 90’sF, and we have spent the past couple of days in the house keeping cool and dry. But I have not given up hope of Alfresco meals to come, hopefully with friends.
Thinking back to meals out of doors in England, one was always on a knives edge as to whether it would rain or no. I can think of several meals on a freezing beach wearing a damp suit because it was a matter of pride to go into the water, freezing or not. But reading about the heat wave in England makes me glad we live in Maine. Julia and I started discussing outdoors food well in advance of the next blog. We are on the proactive, planning train right now and we will have no procrastinating deadlines. If I want to bribe Julia all I have to do is promise her smoked trout pate. In fact when Julia asked me where I had found my recipe for Smoked Trout Pate, and would I share it with you I could not believe that I had not done so already.This is the story of immigration and recognizing my passion.
Arriving in the USA on July 31, 1969 brought me here at a tumultuous time in - Vietnam War, Betty Friedan and women lib, the ERA, Roe vs Wade, Watergate, Cosmo or did you read MS magazine? I was overwhelmed with a myriad new experiences; a guard with a gun, Friendly’s, Chinatown, my first road trip to Vermont culminating in a night in Victor’s bachelor pup tent where I awoke with claustrophobia in the middle of the night and tried to leave via the side wall, being told loudly by the assistant in B. Altman's that she couldn’t understand what I was talking about. I realized I had a lot to learn.
We lived on 34th and Third in a twentieth floor studio which Victor had found when he arrived early in 1967. Becoming pregnant, I was quite sure that life with a baby needed more space, so we bought a house in the NYC ‘burbs when we learned we would not be returning to the UK. I got used to suburban life, made friends and of course friends = entertaining which for me was a chance to cook something new.
Summers were filled with outdoor activities, festivals and alfresco dining; Shakespeare at Stratford, Ct., music at the Ellen Battell Stoeckel Estate, the home of the Yale Summer Music Festival, more music at Caramoor. So different from my previous life in London. Each event was an opportunity to create a new recipe and all that went along with it.
Yes, I would pack a cloth, napkins, silver goblets - a wedding gift from my room mates in London - wine, the works. Wine or sangria went into a thermos so as evade the powers of whatever place we were eating. But it was at the Ellen Battell Stoeckel Estate that I first heard the Tokyo String Quartet and made Smoked Trout Pate as our share toward the diner sur l’herbe. I loved creating meals to go and while I enjoy a tasty sandwich, how much more fun was a spinach quiche, or boned chicken stuffed with Middle Eastern spices. Since my first alfresco efforts I have spread my wings into catering, demonstrations and even helped the Junior League with a cook book launch lunch. At a local country club of course.
But my smoked trout pate is very close to my heart. First with the arrival of the Cuisinart, making pate or pesto, not to mention pastry, spreads, compound butters etc. became a much easier task. I think of the hours spent at the turn of the twentieth century, in the kitchens of the gentry where a teenage girl would work away with a pestle and mortar on sandwich meat or fish pastes (as they were called) for tea on the lawn. With a food processor it becomes the work of a few minutes to mix to the needed consistency.
SMOKED TROUT PATE
Smoked trout usually comes in packs of two fillets which is pretty much the whole trout without the head. The best brand is Ducktrap from Maine but I also buy smoked trout at Trader Joes. I am sure there are other local brands around the country. The other important ingredient is unsalted butter. Here in Maine I can buy Kate’s butter which is also a local and I think spreading further than Maine now. To offer some ideas of quantity, I have made up as little as one fillet with about 2+ to 4 oz butter. But it is really better to use the whole two fillets unless someone in your house likes them for lunch. For a party as part of the food being offered I would use two packs which should give you enough to fill a 3 cup mold like my red fish.
Presentation can be important for a party if people don’t know what it is which is why I use fish related molds or plates. Early in my catering career a lovely Italian man said to me that I should always serve the smoked trout pate molded like a fish whenever possible. I’ve had the fish mold for at least forty years.
Ingredients:
1 pack Smoked Trout fillets
1/2 # unsalted butter, softened
1 tsp grated horseradish (bottled not fresh unless you have it growing)
1/2 fresh lemon juice
1. Soften butter,( usually a couple of hours on the counter)
2. Squeeze a half lemon
3. Bone the trout fillets - break the trout in half down the line between ribcage meat and top. Put the rib meat into the FP (food processor) with about a 1/4 of the softened butter.
4. Taking the other piece of fish and starting from the head end, break into one inch pieces and carefully feel for the pinbones. The video demonstrates how to find and remove the pinbones even though the fish shown isn’t a trout. I realize that these are very small fiddly bones but in a smooth mix they do show up. I usually use my fingers to remove the pinbones but a small tweezer saves one's hands too.
5. Add half the lemon juice and all the horseradish to the FP, with more butter and pieces of trout as you bone them. You may not need all the butter and lemon juice or you may find on tasting that you need a little more juice or some of the flavorings.
6. Mix in FP about 10 seconds then check the consistency. Add a little more butter if it is not smooth enough or tastes dry. You are aiming for a smooth consistency with a taste of the fish, lemon and horseradish. Not adding the butter all at once helps you judge how the mixture is coming together and you will know when it reaches a consistency you enjoy. The amount of fish in the pack is not a standard measure which is why I recommend adding the other ingredients a little at a time.
7. Scrape out into a buttered mold or onto a dish, cover with the used butter papers and wrap tightly in plastic, then refrigerate.
Time to serve! I usually serve smoked trout pate with water biscuits, but very thin crisp toast is great too. Did you notice there’s no salt in this recipe? There is plenty in the smoking mixture and the pate shows to its best on unsalted crackers. This is a gluten free recipe so it also goes well on the rice crackers which are GF. I have served it with crudities - in fact, anything it can be spread on.
ENJOY! I hope you enjoy trying the pate as much as Julia does and it is a star in my kitchen.
