Kipper pate

Heart-protective
anti-arthritis

• 220 grams of cooked, skinned, boned and flaked, kipper fillets
• 60 grams of light cream cheese
• a tablespoon of lemon juice
• 30 grams of very soft butter
• freshly ground black pepper

Grill or poach the fish to get the most omega-3 benefits. Two fish should give you 220 grams when cooked and boned.

For real simplicity buy fillets so that you don't have to bone the fish yourself.

All you have to do is blend the ingredients together and then chill for a couple of hours. Grind black pepper over the top to make it look speckled.

This is a very elegant starter when served with melba toast, a watercress salad and hard-boiled eggs which haven’t been hard-boiled too much if you see what I mean! Only just hard – ie. boiled for about 6 minutes.

It’s also very good served simply with brown toast and lemon wedges. Serve with a chilled white wine.

Like other oily fish, these popular breakfast fish are a very good nutritional source of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, which help to lower cholesterol and reduce the stickiness of the blood.

This means that they help to prevent heart disease and stroke and may help to stop some cancers, as well as minimise the symptoms of arthritis.

They also contain vitamin D and vitamin B12.

One study has showed that men who breakfasted on these three times a week had a lower death rate from all causes than those who reduced their fat intake or increased their dietary fibre.

Moral of the story – eat more of these oily fish and on picnics tuck into kipper pate!