Smoked fish and prawn rillettes

Tam West

Chef Neil Perry continues to be a culinary genius. He can even serve up great airline food, which is no mean feat as this culinary genre is one that often doesn’t present well. The entree I ate on the flight over to Australia was a delicious dish of crab rillettes with rocket and toast. I was inspired to do my own version.

As crab is a bit hard for most people to find, I have used smoked fish and prawns. This is a great starter that can be made in advance or can be used simply on toast to go with drinks.

Ingredients

150 g	Raw prawns (Main)
250 g	Smoked fish, skinned and boned, broken up into small pieces (Main)
1	Lemon, zest only
1 clove	Garlic, finely chopped
¼ tsp	Ground mace
½ tsp	White pepper, freshly ground
2 Tbsp	Curly parsley, chopped
125 g	Butter, softened but not melted
2 handfuls	Rocket leaves
1 Tbsp	Lemon juice
2 Tbsp	Extra virgin olive oil
2 Tbsp	Capers
1	Lemon, cut into wedges
4 servings	Ciabatta bread, sliced and toasted (Main)

Directions

1. Bring a saucepan of salted water to the boil and add the prawns. Bring back to the boil and simmer for 2 minutes or until the prawns are just cooked through. Remove from the heat, drain well and cool completely.
2. Slice the prawns thinly and place in a mixing bowl with the smoked fish, zest, garlic, mace, pepper, parsley and butter. Use a fork and mash the mixture well so there are no lumps of butter and you have a thick pate. This may take a little time but just keep at it until it is well mashed. Taste, season with salt and mix again.
3. Put the rocket, lemon juice and oil into a mixing bowl. Season with salt and pepper and mix well.
4. Serve the rillettes sprinkled with capers, with a little of the rocket, a couple of slices of a toast and a lemon wedge on the side.

More recipes from Ray inspired by his trip to Western Australia

• Plum sorbet with chocolate crumbs and dulce le leche
• Seeded broccoli and kumara salad