Herring Roe Pate

OK - I have been cooking a lot of herring recently, but one thing I overlooked was the roe.
Most people throw it away, but doing so is a waste as you buy fish by weight and it is delicious.
When you clean the fish, the females have two large roes, or egg sac's, in the abdominal cavity. They are a dark red - like the colour of liver. They are worth keeping, as this makes a great breakfast treat or starter.

Males have white, fatty looking sacs for Milt (thanks to Mellor from boards.ie for that one) in the same area.
These are not to be used for this recipe.

Had it yesterday as a starter, but forgot to take photo's so I will update the blog in the future.

INGREDIENTS

500g herring roe
2 tbsp plain flour
sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, to taste
50g Cuinneog butter
1 tsp lemon juice
A few drops of Tabasco sauce
A good pinch of paparika
2 slices wholewheat toast, liberally buttered with even more Cuinneog

Method:
Place the roes in a colander or sieve and pour boiling water over the top.
Dry with kitchen paper.
Season the flour with salt and freshly-ground black pepper - Use a fair bit.
Toss the roes in the flour before and set aside .
Melt the butter in a pan and when foaming add the roes along with the lemon juice and Tabasco sauce and fry for between three and five minutes, or until dry, almost crispy.

In the meantime prepare the toast. Butter it generously.

Cut into triangles, then spoon the cooked roes onto the toast.

I like to sprinkle over some mild, finely sliced sliced shallots.

Garnish with a pinch of paprika and serve with a little dressed salad.

For something that normally ends up in the bin - or in my case the cat's - it's a great snacky meal that takes about 10 minutes to prep, cook and serve up.