We had a gift from the local goat man – white truffles from our land!  They are huge (like most veg in Portugal…. for example, courgettes (zucchini) are the size of marrows.

Question :  what do I do with them?  They have minimal flavour!  I will research the internet.

Just bought a mini-hot smoker from the UK – Cameron – so another first, smoking fish.  Easy to buy really fresh mackerel, the smoker came with sample wood chips, so sprinkle the mackerel with salt for 8 minutes, rinse, put in the smoker, set over heat and smoke for 20 minutes.  It worked but the only problem was the lid wouldn’t seal – I solved this by reading the instructions and bending the lid a little to seal so next time the flavour will be smokier.  These were tasty and moist, just a little lacking in colour.

Last night was smoked mackerel on toasted seed bread, tonight smoked mackerel pate – just whisk the mackerel, some yoghurt, lemon juice, horseradish and Tabasco together, quantities to suit amount and your taste.  Serve with raw veg, breadsticks, pitta, anything you like.  Perfect snack.