Smokie Pâté with Crowdie and Lovage

Sue Lawrence, Winner of Glenfiddich Regional Food Writer of the Year and author of many cookery books, visited Iain at Cupar Farmer's Market in February 2004. The following recipes are kindly reproduced with Sue Lawrence's permission; Smokie Pots and Pâté with Crowdie and Lovage can be found in her latest book "A Cook's Tour of Scotland".

I love to use Crowdie cheese for this, as it has a unique texture that is smooth yet firm, with a sharp, lemony, taste. Otherwise you can use ricotta (although it is not as low fat as crowdie which has only 4.5g per 100g)- the taste is still good but the overall texture will be softer. If you cannot find lovage, substitute a few celery leaves, and the grated zest of half a lemon instead.

Serves 4-6

Ingredients
1 Pair of Arbroath smokies, (approx 450g/1lb), flesh removed
150g/5 ½ oz Crowdie cheese
2 tbspns lovage leaves
The juice of 1 ½ lemons
Freshly ground black pepper

Method
Place everything together in a blender (or a food processor, but because it is easy to miss a bone, the blender is more likely to eliminate it than the processor). Taste and add pepper as necessary (you shouldn't need any salt).

Chill before serving, with thick oatcakes or warm bannocks.