Smoked mackerel smørrebrød with beetroot salad

Smoked mackerel smashed into a chunky pâté with crème fraîche makes a quick, light Nordic-style breakfast. We’ve served ours on rye crackers – try toasted rye bread for something hot and hearty.

Prep time 10 mins, cook 1 min

Serves 6

170 gm hot-smoked mackerel or trout, skin and bones discarded, flesh flaked

70 gm crème fraîche

6 rye crackers, to serve

Finely grated horseradish, to taste

50 gm (½ cup) mung bean sprouts

2 tbsp roasted sunflower seeds

2 tbsp roasted pepitas

Beetroot salad

1 tsp caraway seeds

1 small beetroot (about 100gm), trimmed

and thinly shaved on a mandolin

2 golden shallots, thinly sliced Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling Lemon juice, to taste

1 For beetroot salad, dry-roast caraway seeds (1 minute; see cook’s notes p177), then grind with a mortar and pestle. Transfer to a bowl, add beetroot and shallot, drizzle with olive oil, season to taste with salt, pepper and lemon juice, and toss to combine.

2 In a bowl, mix smoked mackerel and crème fraîche with a fork to combine and season to taste. 3 Top each cracker with mackerel mixture and beetroot salad, scatter with horseradish, sprouts and toasted seeds, and serve.>