- 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
- 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.