As ever, there are a zillion different recipes for this but the way I like to make it is simple and extremely healthy.  You see, the thing about mackeral is that it is good for us and because it is oily, it lends itself to pate with very little additional fat.  Making chicken liver pate or trout pate requires a lot more butter.  You cannot (repeat: cannot) overdo the butter.  If you add TONS you shift from smoked mackeral pate to smoked mackeral butter (delicious but makes you fat quickly).  If you add NONE you don’t get a pate, you get babyfood.  Fine for babies, not so fine for people a little bit older.  So, I have offered a butter amount here as a guideline only.

The recipe

Four fillets of smoked mackeral (they vary in size but don’t get too worked up about it) with the skin off.
A reasonable cut from a block of butter (1-2 oz?)
Juice of a lemon (you can use concentrated lemon juice that you keep in the fridge if you don’t have a lemon)
A few grinds of pepper

Put the whole lot in the magimix and whizz it around until you have a paste. 

Eat with bread or crackers or raw carrots/celery.

It freezes extremely well and if you freeze it directly in little ramekins you can pull it out of the freezer when you get home and it will be ready to serve when guests arrive.  It’s a great thing to have on hand.  Plus, it is so good that everyone thinks you are a genius.  Trust me.