Breakfast & lunch
Smoked Mackerel Pâté with Cucumber
Five minutes, no cooking, and it tastes like you made an effort. Scoop it up with cucumber instead of toast.
Serves 2Prep 10 minNo cooking
4gcarbs
per serving
per serving
About 4g of carbs per serving. The pâté and half a cucumber to scoop with. How we worked it out
You'll need
Don't have it?
- Tinned tuna: One tin, drained, for 2 fillets.
- Hot-smoked salmon: Same weight.
Don't have it?
- Mascarpone: Same weight. Richer, and works for cheesecake too.
- Full-fat Greek yoghurt: For dips and pâté only: same weight, a bit tangier and runnier. Not for cheesecake, it won't set.
Don't have it?
- Bottled lemon juice: 1 tbsp for half a lemon.
Method
- Peel the skin off the mackerel and check for any bones.
- Flake the fish into a bowl with a fork.
- Add the cream cheese, lemon juice and lots of black pepper and mash together. Leave it chunky or keep mashing until smooth.
- Serve with the cucumber slices to scoop it up.
Tip
Peppered smoked mackerel is even better. Skip the extra pepper if you use it.
Swaps
- Tinned tuna or hot-smoked salmon instead of mackerel.
- Celery sticks or little gem leaves instead of cucumber.
Storing it
Covered in the fridge for up to 2 days.
How we worked out 4g of carbs
| Ingredient | Weight | Per 100g | Carbs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full-fat cream cheese Typical UK supermarket label | 100g | 4g | 4.0g |
| Lemon juice UK government food tables | 15g | 1.6g | 0.2g |
| Cucumber UK government food tables | 150g | 1.2g | 1.8g |
| Total | 6.0g | ||
| ÷ 2 servings, rounded up | 4g | ||
Meat, fish, oil, salt, pepper and water have no carbs, so they're left out. How we count carbs.