A plate of locally smoked fish with Horseradish Cream and Sweet Dill Mayonnaise

Serves 4

We have fantastic smoked fish in Ireland — see Hot Tips last week for contact details. This horseradish cream, dill mayonnaise and cucumber pickle will also come in useful to serve with cold meats.

A selection of smoked fish — smoked salmon, smoked mussels, smoked mackerel, smoked trout, smoked eel, smoked tuna, smoked hake and smoked sprats.

Horseradish cream Sweet dill mayonnaise Sweet cucumber pickle

Garnish: Segments of lemon Sprigs of watercress or rocket leaves

First, make the horseradish cream and sweet dill mayonnaise.

Then slice the smoked salmon into thin slices down onto the skin — allow one slice per person. Cut the mackerel into diamond-shaped pieces and divide the trout into large flakes. Skin and slice the eel. Thinly slice the tuna and hake.

To serve: Choose four large white plates, drizzle each with sweet dill mayonnaise. Divide the smoked fish between the plates. Arrange appetisingly. Put a blob of horseradish cream and cucumber pickle on each plate. Garnish with a lemon wedge and sprigs of watercress or rocket leaves.

Occasionally, we serve just three different types of smoked fish — eg, salmon, mussels and trout — on tiny rounds of Ballymaloe brown yeast bread, topped with a little frill of fresh lollo rosso lettuce. A little blob of cucumber pickle goes with the smoked salmon; a blob of homemade mayonnaise is delicious with marinated smoked mussels and a blob of horseradish cream and a sprig of watercress complements the pink smoked trout — these three delicious morsels make a perfect light starter.

Horseradish Cream

A nice big chunk of horseradish keeps for ages in the fridge or pantry. I use it for many dishes.

Serves 8 — 10

3-4 tbsp grated horseradish

2 tsp wine vinegar

1 tsp lemon juice

¼ tsp mustard

¼ tsp salt

Pinch of freshly ground pepper

1 tsp sugar

250ml (8 fl oz) whipping cream

Scrub the horseradish root well, peel and grate on a ‘slivery grater’. Put the grated horseradish into a bowl with the vinegar, lemon juice, mustard, salt, freshly ground pepper and sugar. Stir in the cream but do not over-mix or the cream may curdle.

It will keep for 2-3 days: cover so that it doesn’t pick up flavours in the fridge.

This is a fairly mild horseradish sauce. If you want to really ‘clear the sinuses’, increase the amount of horseradish.

Serve with roast beef, smoked venison or smoked mackerel or eel, also great with pickled beetroot.

Sweet Cucumber Pickle

170g (6oz) cucumber, thinly sliced

55g (2oz) onion, thinly sliced

55g (2oz) sugar

1 level tsp salt

35.5 ml (1¼ fl oz) white wine vinegar

Combine the sliced cucumber and onion in a large bowl.

Mix sugar, salt and vinegar together and pour over the cucumber and onion. Place in a tightly covered container in the refrigerator and leave for at least one hour.

Sweet Dill Mayonnaise

1 large egg yolk, preferably free-range

2 tbsp French mustard

1 tbsp white sugar

150ml (¼ pint) ground nut or sunflower oil

1 tbsp white wine vinegar

1 tbsp dill, finely chopped Salt and freshly ground pepper

Whisk the egg yolk with the mustard and sugar. Drip in the oil drop by drop whisking all the time, then add the vinegar and fresh dill.