Ingredients

• 10g/¼oz yeast
• 10g/¼oz sugar
• 300ml/10fl oz warm milk
• 150g/5½oz flour
• 75g/2¾oz buckwheat flour
• 1 free-range egg
• separated
• plus 2 extra egg whites
• vegetable oil
• for frying
• 250g/9oz redcurrant jelly
• 250ml/9floz red wine vinegar
• 4 cloves
• 75g/2¾oz Dijon mustard
• 2 large cooked beetroot
• peeled and diced
• 200g/7oz crème fraîche
• 1 bunch chives
• finely chopped
• 4 mackerel
• filleted and pin boned
• rapeseed oil
• for drizzling
• 4 shallots
• finely chopped
• 1 tin Avruga caviar

Directions

• To make the blini
• mix the yeast
• sugar
• milk
• flours and egg yolk together in a bowl to make a paste.
• Whisk the egg whites in a separate bowl until they form stiff peaks
• then fold them into the yeast mixture. Cover the bowl and set aside at room temperature for 20 minutes.
• Heat a frying pan until medium hot
• add a little vegetable oil and small spoonfuls of the blini mixture.
• Cook the blini on each side until golden-brown then remove and drain onto kitchen paper. Repeat with the remaining batter and keep the blini warm until ready to serve.
• For the beetroot
• place the redcurrant jelly
• vinegar and cloves into a saucepan and cook until reduced down to a glaze thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.
• Pass the mixture through a sieve into a clean bowl
• whisk in the mustard then fold the beetroot into the pickle mix and keep warm.
• Whisk the crème fraîche until thickened
• add the chives and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
• Cut the mackerel fillets in half lengthways. Drizzle with rapeseed oil
• gently blow torch on both sides until cooked through then season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
• To serve
• place the mackerel onto the serving plates with a little of the chopped shallots
• the warm beetroot pickle
• blini
• crème fraîche and some Avruga caviar.