What’s cooking today: Biltong pâté

Biltong makes a wonderful pâté. It has in-built flavours from its curing, which almost invariably includes coriander seeds. For a pâté, a squeeze of lemon juice adds a piquant lift and offsets the creaminess of the cream cheese, which in this recipe comprises two kinds, the more acidic, drier Italian mascarpone style, and a common-or-garden local version which is sweeter. I prefer a textured biltong pâté with some pleasing texture, but you can blitz it longer and finer if you prefer.

This recipe accompanies this column.

Ingredients

130 g soft, lean beef biltong, sliced thinly and then chopped roughly

230 g plain cream cheese

250 g mascarpone

Juice of half a lemon

Ground black pepper to taste

Salt to taste (optional, depending on how salty your biltong is)

Method

Blend all ingredients together in a food processor until you have the desired consistency. You can make it chunkier or smoother, as you like it. Smear on toast or serve with savoury crackers. You could also use it as the pâté layer on a Beef Wellington, instead of the usual pâté de foie gras or chicken liver pâté. DM/TGIFood 

To enquire about Tony Jackman’s book, foodSTUFF (Human & Rousseau) please email him at tony@dailymaverick.co.za 

SUBSCRIBE: Our Thank God It’s Food newsletter is sent to subscribers every Friday at 6pm, and published on the TGIFood platform on Daily Maverick. It’s all about great reads on the themes of food and life. Subscribe here.