Hot Cold Pate

So anyone who knows my husband knows his affinity for hot foods, as in spicy, not heat hot. While we were perusing the local used bookstore the other day, we came across a cookbook that was right up his spice-loving alley called The Habanero Cookbook by Dave DeWitt and Nancy Gerlach. He has a pretty good collection of spicy cookbooks, but this one even had a few recipes in it that appealed to me, including today's trial recipe, Salmon-Habanero Pâté. For those interested in locating a copy of the cookbook, here's a link to it on Amazon.com:




The Recipe:

Salmon-Habanero Pâté

Serve this pâté as a spread with crusty bread or crackers and garnished with hard-cooked egg wedges, tomatoes and olives.

• 1 habanero, seeds and stem removed, minced
• 2 tbsp Dijon-style mustard
• 1/2 lb cooked salmon, either canned or fillets
• 3 tbsp light rum
• 2 hard-cooked eggs, coarsely chopped
• 3 tbsp minced onion
• 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• salt, to taste

Place all the ingredients in a blender or food processor and puree until smooth. Transfer to a bowl and refrigerate for 1 hour before serving.

Yield: 1 1/2 cups

My results:

Let me first say that my initial review of this recipe isn't great. It calls for 8 oz (1/2 lb) cooked salmon and a can of salmon is only 6 oz., so I started with just that much in my experiment and found that the spread was way too loose and really lacked any of the wow factor we had been hoping for. There was no true salmon flavor nor really any other flavor standout and it left us all feeling a bit underwhelmed. So we (hubby and I) decided to up the salmon quotient by adding an additional can of salmon, bringing the salmon total to 12 oz (4 oz more than the recipe calls for). This helped the consistency a good deal, although it was still too liquid-y to be considered a "spread" in my opinion, more of a "dip". The flavor was also improved by the additional salmon, although I still didn't get a strong taste of salmon or any other flavor. All in all I would say this recipe is just "ok" and definitely not something I would waste ingredients on again. It wasn't "bad", but when there are so many "good" recipes out there, why waste time, ingredients and energy (not to mention calories!) on something that is just "ok"... Here are photos of the finished dip, both with and without flash:





Here's hoping that the other recipes we try from this cookbook will more than make up for this lack-luster beginning! Be sure and check back tomorrow to see what we decide to bring on from the cookbook collection!

Edited to add:

After setting for 24 hours the flavors had a chance to meld and this dip was much better. Hubby said he liked it and while it still wasn't a favorite of mine, it was much better the second day...