Slimming World-style 'Crab' Pate

 

 



It's hard sometimes to find 'syn free' snacks that you can eat on the Slimming World programme if you've had enough fruit and cooked meats - I seem to live off roast chicken pieces at the moment. Someone in my SW group shared this recipe and I loved it - it's a seafood pate that tastes a lot like crab, which you can take into work and dip crudites into.

 

It's very easy to make and you only need three ingredients, which are all syn free: seafood sticks, a small tin of mackerel and some Quark or fat free natural yogurt.

 

 

Place eight seafood sticks, the tinned mackerel and 2 tbsp. of the Quark or yogurt in a food processor and blend until smooth.

 

Spoon out the resulting pate; I've decorated mine with a little chopped up seafood stick, and serve with crudites. This will keep for a few days in the fridge and is really tasty.

 

 

Less Sinful Smoked Mackerel Pate

smoked mackerel pate

Fish pate is something that always makes an appearance at Christmas, whether it's as a starter on Christmas day or as part of the Boxing Day buffet. We had a food tasting session at my Slimming World group this week which was an opportunity for me to try out another recipe from the Slimming World Christmas book.

Mackerel pate usually uses cream cheese or crème fraiche but you can cut the calories - while keeping all the taste - by using Quark instead. If you haven't come across Quark before you're really missing out - it's a very versatile curd cheese that has a very plain taste so can be used in both sweet or savoury dishes. It can be used in place of crème fraiche, natural yogurt or cream cheese and is virtually fat free. It is also quite thick so is good for dishes where you want a robust texture.

Making this mackerel pate is really simple. The recipe from the Slimming World book was actually for smoked trout pate but I couldn't get any smoked trout, so mackerel it was!

You need
250g smoked mackerel fillets
125g Quark
3-4 spring onions, chopped
1 tsp horseradish sauce
couple of drops of Tabasco sauce

Dry-fry the chopped spring onions for a couple of minutes and flake the fish into the same pan and stir until combined.

Spoon into a large bowl and mix well with a fork into the Quark until you have a relatively smooth texture.

Add the horseradish and Tabasco. Mix well and transfer to a serving bowl. Serve with breadsticks or melba toasts.

Slimming World Smoked Salmon Pate

After coming back from holiday in America I decided to follow the Slimming World 7-day meal plan inside the magazine for a few weeks. It recommended homemade smoked salmon pate as a syn-free snack; it was easy to make this low fat version which lasted several days and tasted really good. 

Quantities are approximate as I just used what I had; it's probably best to err on the side of caution with the yogurt as you can always add more if necessary.

You need:

about 200g smoked salmon

about 60ml fat-free plain yogurt

handful of fresh parsley

squeeze of lemon juice

Simply place all the ingredients into a blender and pulse to combine.

Add more lemon juice to taste or more yogurt for a runnier dip.

This kept well for a few days in an airtight container -this cute little tub is part of a set that I received from the Dot Com Gift Shop a little while ago.

It's good with carrot sticks and you could also have it spread on toast.