Smoked Mackerel Rillette & Cucumber Dille Pickle on Mille Feuille
Smoked Mackerel Rillette & Cucumber Dill Pickle on Mille Feuille is the ultimate make-ahead appetiser—perfect for the holidays, dinner parties, or any special gathering. It’s easy to prepare in advance, comes together in minutes, and is guaranteed to impress your guests.
The rich, smoky mackerel rillette is packed with flavour, made with chives, lemon zest, crème fraîche, and a touch of black pepper and salt for a beautifully balanced bite. The magic happens when it’s served on crispy mille feuille (which, let’s be honest, is just a fancy name for flaky, golden puff pastry crackers). And to take it to the next level? A sweet and sour cucumber dill pickle that cuts through the richness and adds the perfect fresh, tangy contrast. Yum!
This elegant hors d’œuvre is as delicious as it is beautiful, and the best part? You can make the rillette and pickles up to two days in advance, making party prep a breeze.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
✔️ Elegant yet easy – Looks fancy, but it’s surprisingly simple to make.
✔️ Make-ahead friendly – Prepare 1-2 days in advance for stress-free entertaining.
✔️ Rich & balanced flavours – Smoky mackerel, zesty lemon, creamy crème fraîche, and tangy dill pickle.
✔️ Perfect party bite – A crowd-pleasing hors d’œuvre that’s light yet flavourful.
✔️ Crispy, creamy, tangy perfection – The ultimate textural contrast in every bite.
Whether you’re hosting a holiday dinner, cocktail party, or fancy brunch, this Smoked Mackerel Rillette & Cucumber Dill Pickle on Mille Feuille is sure to steal the show. Let’s get prepping!
I served these together with these little soup shooters: Sweet Potato Lemon Grass Massaman Curry Soup and Whipped Feta with Black Pepper Served on Sesame Brittle. All great drink-in-one-hand-snack-in-the-other-hand kind of bites.
Inspired by a recipe by Great British Chefs.
Smoked Mackerel Rillette & Cucumber Dille Pickle on Mille Feuille
(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
Loading...Impress your guests with Smoked Mackerel Rillette & Cucumber Dill Pickle on Mille Feuille, a perfect dinner party appetizer.
Ingredients
- Mackerel Rillette
- 1 whole smoked mackerel (see notes)
- 100 ml crème fraîche
- 1 - 2 tsp (Dijon) mustard (to taste)
- 3 tbsp chopped chives
- A good squeeze of fresh lemon juice
- Zest of half a lemon
- 1 tbsp mayonnaise (optional)
- Pepper & Salt
- Cucumber Dille Pickle
- 1/2 Cucumber
- Small bunch dill, finely chopped
- 2 tbsp vinegar (any kind really, I used wine vinegar)
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 2 tbsp warm water
- Mille Feuille
- 3 squares frozen puff pastry
Instructions
Mackerel Rillette (make ahead)
Slice open the mackerel at the belly part and fold it open. Carefully slide off the flesh from the mackerel discarding all the fishbones. The best way to do this is to use your hands, this way you can feel all the tiny bones which are harder to see.
Put it in a bowl and break it down with a fork.
Add the crème fraîche, mustard, chives, pepper, lemon juice and lemon zest and give it a good mix. Taste and adjust seasoning, also add salt at this stage if you like.
Adding some mayonnaise will make it even creamier, but it's definitely not a must.
And done! Keep in the fridge until ready to use, it will keep for 3-4 days (depending on how fresh the fish was of course).
Cucumber Dill Pickle (make on the day)
Using a mandolin or a very sharp knife slice the cucumber into 1 mm slices, or as thin as you can slice it.
Add it to a sealable jar and add the dill, vinegar, sugar and just enough warm water so that all the cucumber is covered.
Seal the jar, give it a good shake until all the sugar is dissolved and keep cold in the fridge until serving.
Mille Feuille (make upto 1 day ahead, on the day itself it's the best).
Defrost the puff pastry and preheat the oven to 200°C.
Slice the puff pastry into little bitesize squares or rectangles, for example 4 x 5 pieces so you get 20 pieces per square.
Lay the squares on a lined baking sheet, lay an extra piece of baking sheet on top of the puff pastry and place an extra baking tray on top to weigh down the puff pastry.
Bake in the oven for 11 minutes, rotating the tray 180° half way to make sure it's baked evenly.
Notes
- Yu can of course also use smoked mackerel that's already been filleted, I just really like getting all the different kinds of the mackerel meat from a whole mackerel.
- In stead of mille feuille you could of course just serve it on crostini's, crackers, or bread!
