Smoked Seafood
by Lynn Bain

ONCE upon a time, the only smoked seafood available (unless you smoked your own) was haddock, kippers, and tins of herring and oysters.

These days the Spring Seafood company provides consumers with a variety of smoked and fresh seafood to choose from. Taramasalata, smoked salmon, smoked trout, salmon sausages, kippers, sardines, salmon roe and smoked mackerel are just some of the Spring choices available at most good seafood suppliers.

In this month's Cooking Corner we’ll cook some Spring smoked seafood with a delicious Greek influence.

SARDINES WITH FETA CHEESE

The tangy partnership of smoked sardines and tomatoes in this recipe lets you hold onto summer!

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 small red capsicum, seeded and chopped
• 1 400g tin Ardmona chopped tomatoes
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 pkt Spring smoked sardine fillets
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• 100g Feta cheese, cubed

Preparation

• Heat the oil in a flameproof frypan and add the onion. Saute gently and stir for a few minutes until the onion has softened. Add the red capsicum and cook for a further three minutes.

• Add the tinned tomatoes to the frypan with the oregano and chopped parsley. Season to taste with freshly ground salt and pepper and stir thoroughly.

• Cook gently over a low heat until the sauce reduces and thickens slightly. This should take about 10 minutes.

• Add the sardine fillets to the pan and tumble gently, making sure the sardines are coated with the tomato sauce. Sprinkle the cubes of feta over the top of the tomato and sardine mixture and pop under a preheated grill for a few minutes.

Serve hot with lots of fresh crusty bread to mop up the juices.

POTATO SALAD WITH TARAMASALATA TOAST

This is a quick-to-prepare salad with the added flavour and texture of Taramasalata toast.

Ingredients

• 1 tin baby potatoes
• 3 shallots, chopped
• 1 tablespoon capers
• a few black olives
• 100g feta cheese, cubed
• 3 tablespoons chopped mint
• Dressing
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• juice of a lemon
• 4 tablespoons Greek yoghurt
• 1/2 teaspoon prepared mustard

Preparation

• Pop the ingredients for the dressing into a clean screw-top jar and shake thoroughly. Add the ingredients for the salad together in a large bowl and toss gently with the dressing.

• Arrange the potato salad in a serving bowl surrounded by toasted slices of bread spread generously with taramasalata.

Heap some of the potato salad on top of a taramasalata spread toast and crunch away!