Recipes

Smoked Trout Rillettes

Serves 10

| Prep Time: 10 mins

| Cook Time: 20 mins

| Total Time: 30 mins

You may need: Nordic Blend

Discover The Recipe

Most countries in Scandinavia have extremely long coastlines and thus, seafood plays a prominent role in their cuisine. Historically, the long winters of Nordic countries meant that locals had to find ways to preserve food to eat through harsh winters. Seafood was salted, pickled (fermented), and/or smoked to make it available any time during winter months. This recipe for Smoked Trout Rillettes pays homage to the culinary heritage and flavors of Scandinavia, while loosely reinterpreting a classic French spread.

The spread is served on crackers, again with a nod to the Swedish Smorgasbord, or open-faced sandwich platter. This dish is simple to make and offers layers of flavor. If you need to bring a dish to a holiday party, this is the one that your friends will rave about. Smoked trout is readily available in supermarkets, but if you cannot find it, smoked salmon works well. Make sure to get the smoked filets or nuggets as the firmness makes it easy to chop and evenly mix throughout the spread. Finally, we created our proprietary Nordic spice blend to showcase a lovely combination of typical dried herbs and spices used in Scandinavian cuisine like dill and caraway. Try making our Fish Cakes with Mustard Aioli recipe instead.

Ingredients

3/4 cup mascarpone cheese
1/2 cup light cream cheese (Neufchatel)
1/4 cup green onion, finely chopped (~3-4 stalks)
1 lemon, juiced (~1.5 tbsp, or more to taste)
8 oz smoked trout fillets (or smoked salmon fillets) without skin and bones, finely chopped
1.5 tbsp Piquant Post Nordic Blend spice
salt & pepper to taste
Assorted crackers and/or bread crisps: rye, pumpernickel, multigrain
4 celery stalks, trimmed and sliced into 2" sticks
bunch of radishes, trimmed and halved
fresh dill for garnish (optional)

Notes

Smoked Trout Rillettes is a perfect appetizer to make for a holiday platter to serve arriving guests or to bring to a potluck. You can make these the night before and quickly spread on crackers just before serving.

See below for alternatives if you don't like fish.

We recommend buying smoked trout or salmon filets or "nuggets" Using the smoked fish packed in tins can work in a pinch but the smoked filets provide more flavor and the texture is easy to chop to mix into the spread.

Optional ingredients add a little character and flavor but don't sweat it if you don't have them.

Instructions

Remove cheeses from fridge. Prep the green onions, celery and radish first. Then, juice the lemon and chop the fish.

In a large mixing bowl, combine mascarpone and cream cheeses, green onion, lemon juice, smoked trout, Nordic Spice blend, and salt & pepper. Stir to thoroughly mix.

On a large party tray or platter, arrange crackers and top with a dollop of spread. Garnish each piece with a sprig of fresh dill. Serve with extra crackers and veggies for spreading.

[only 3 steps on this recipe]

Alternatives & Substitutions

We recommend using both light cream cheese and mascarpone cheese in this recipe. You can use one or the other if you can't find both. The addition of light cream cheese will cut down on the calories instead of using the equivalent amount of mascarpone alone.
Smoked Trout is available in most large supermarkets usually near smoked salmon. If you can't find smoked trout, feel free to sub in smoked salmon fillets.
Our Nordic Blend a versatile spice. If you're short on time, try sprinkling on lox and cream cheese with bagels, avocado toast, or over salmon (or any fish) before roasting.
Try making our Scandinavian-inspired Fish Cakes with mustard aioli recipe instead!
It also tastes great on roasted veggies like carrots and parsnips.
Try our delicious and satisfying (and vegan!) Nordic Potato Salad or our filling and delicious Finnish Salmon Soup, and our Nordic Potato Leek Soup.
Add Nordic Blend to 2 tbsp olive oil with 1 tbsp of (white wine or apple cider) vinegar and 1 tsp of dijon mustard for a lovely Scandinavian-inspired salad dressing.
Be sure to leave comments and feedback on your meals and experiments in the comments for others to read.
Post pictures of your masterpiece meal on social media and tag us. We repost!