Mackerel rillettes

It is one of my favourite appetizers.  Easy to make, I find it's pretty impressive instead of the usually cubes of cheese that get served at parties. if you use smoked fish it literally takes just few minutes to put together.
You eat it on toasted bread or crackers.
 
Ingredients for 4 gourmets:
 
2 mackerel - medium size from sustainable sources
1 onion finely chopped
2 Shallots finely chopped
2 small carrots, sliced
2 glasses of white wine
100 ml fresh cream
3 soupspoons of Dijon mustard
2 spring onions finely sliced or 3 tablespoons minced chives.
2 dessertspoons fresh lemon juice
Pepper & salt
1/2 teaspoon of Cayenne pepper
Thyme
 
Preparation

1. In a big pot, place the mackerels and add cold water and white wine to cover it,
2. Add carrots, onion, one shallot, salt and pepper and the thyme.
3. Bring to a gentle boil and simmer over low heat for 10-15minutes.
4. Once cooked, drain the fish and peel the skin off the fish and discard.
5. Keep the stock and set aside.
6. Carefully remove all the bones.
7. Still warm, flake the mackerel into very small pieces.
8. Add the cream, the mustard, a shallot finely sliced, the spring onion, the cayenne pepper, salt and black pepper, lemon juice and mix all the ingredients.
9. Season to taste.
10. If the mixture is too thick or looks dry, add a few soupspoons of the stock you have kept aside.
11. Scrape into a serving dish, cover, and chill for at least two hours. Let come to room temperature before serving.

The rillettes can be refrigerated for at least a week.
 
If you can't find mackerels use salmon. If so, season it on both sides,
steam in a steamer basket until just cooked, about 8 minutes. If you have a
microwave, you can probably cook it in there as well and follow the recipe.
 
You can replace the fresh cream by a low fat yoghurt.
You can use smoked mackerel from sustainable sources, so you don't have
to cook the fish. Smoked mackerel gives wonderful flavour to this recipe.
You can, as well, have a combination of fresh and smoked fish.
The rillettes can be frozen, well wrapped for up to two months.