Smoked kahawai pâté

Some things are meant to be.  I’ve been thinking about Kahawai for a while now.  Common in our waters, it seems to me – and correct me if I’m wrong – that people can get a little sniffy about them.  Kind of like they’re thought of as some kind of second-best fish.  Tough, people say.  Or flavourless.

I’m always up for a food-related challenge.  Determined to find out for myself, and with the entire month of February on enforced bed-rest plus all of the internet at my disposal, I’d been googling all manner of Kahawai-related things.  I had just decided on ordering some smoked Kahawai from this lovely-sounding little outfit when…..

…my husband was invited on a fishing trip.  He is not a natural outdoorsman and to be honest I suspect he accepted the invitation largely due to FOMO.  I wasn’t particularly convinced we would be getting any fresh fish at all.  But, doubter that I am, he proved me wrong and returned with two big, silvery, glistening Kahawai (along with some rather cute little gunard – more about them in another post).

The downside to this little story that the Kahahwai were completely whole.  Not skinned, not gutted, and looking up at me from the kitchen sink.  Thank god for Youtube, and several messy, sweary hours later, we had some neat little Kahawai fillets at our disposal.  By this time I was a bit sick of looking at fish, so it was over to the husband, aka Kahawai catcher extraordinaire, to smoke them.

It seems that for as many people who get sniffy about Kahawai, there are as many who sing Kahawai’s praises, especially as either smoked or curried.  I adapted this recipe from our beloved National Radio to smoke the fillets, and gosh, they were gorgeous.  Lush, flaky and flavoursome, and most definitely fine all by themselves.  I do love a dip, and so used one of my precious fillets to make this simple pâté.  It’s lovely with some toasted tortilla or flatbread and goes very well with a nice dry cider.  I reckon you could substitute another type of smoked fish too, but I have to ask, why would you?

Smoked Kahawai fillets:

For four fillets:

5 T honey

2 T maple syrup

2 T brown sugar

Flaky sea salt

Marinate the fillets overnight in the above mixture.

Cook for half an hour or until skin flakes away with a fork.  We did ours on our Weber barbeque using a smoking box and manuka wood chips .

Smoked Kahawai pâté:

1 fillet smoked Kahawai, flaked into chunks.

150g tub of sour cream

2 T mayonnaise

Juice of one lemon

Salt and pepper to taste

Place all ingredients in a bowl.  Use a stick blender or masher to combine until smooth, or to your taste (some people swear by a chunkier consistency, I like mine a little smoother).

Serve with toasted tortilla or flatbread.