We all have an alter ego, another aspect of our day to day facade that often gets overshadowed with the formalities of a stiff-collared designation. I have been blogging about food for nearly two years now, and it never fails to impress me when I manage to uncover a hidden chef in someone quite unexpected!

By day, Paul Alexander Estorffe is a Senior Communications Manager at The Qode, one of Dubai’s most reputed PR communications houses. I happened to stumble upon his Instagram account @paul_estorffe and was pretty amazed by the kind of spectacular dishes this ‘home cook’ dishes out! Do follow him and have a look for yourselves. In today’s guest post, Paul has been kind enough to share a simple yet very fancy-sounding recipe he has created all by himself; Paul’s Kipper Pate with Drambuie and Toast. I’ll be trying this out myself this week, thanks Paul!

Paul Estorffe’s Recipe for Kipper Pate with Drambuie and Toast

This is one of my favourites as it’s simple to make and great for a starter. Before serving, place mini kilner jars on a plate, garnish with a sprig of parsley or dill and serve with thinly sliced toast. Looks good and your guests will be impressed!

Serves 4 as a starter 

Ingredients:

• 2 kipper fillets (supermarket variety are fine)
• 1 baked potato
• ½ large onion
• 2 rashers lean smoked bacon
• 200 gms butter
• truffle oil
• freshly ground black pepper to taste
• Drambuie to taste (optional) or a splash of mineral water
• pinch of cayenne pepper
• pinch of sea salt (careful, kippers are salty already)
• fresh parsley or dill to garnish
• thinly sliced toast

 

Method:

• Sauté the bacon and chopped onion together.
• Cool and add to the still warm potato.
• Grill the kippers, remove skins then add to the bacon, onion and potato mixture.
• Purée with a hand blender, push through a fine sieve and then puree again to ensure there are no bones.
• Season with black pepper, cayenne pepper and a splash of Drambuie to taste. If not using the Drambuie, add a splash of mineral water to loosen the mixture slightly.
• Spoon the pate into individual jars and refrigerate for about 20 minutes.
• Melt the butter gently, remove pate from the refrigerator and pour butter over tops to completely cover the pate.
• Add ½ teaspoon of truffle oil to top of butter in each jar and return to the refrigerator until the butter solidifies, around 30 minutes.
• Garnish and serve with toast.