Pastă de Pește
(pah-stuh deh pesh-teh)
Cămara Copilăriei
There is a ruthless, beautiful pragmatism to the Romanian home kitchen. When a grandmother boils a whole carp for Sunday sour soup, the leftover meat is never discarded. It is meticulously picked, mashed with rich European butter, and transformed into this deeply savory spread. For the modern diaspora cook, high-quality canned sardines or tuna do the job beautifully. The real secret here is not the fish, but the onion. Mince it to an absolute pulp and macerate it briefly with salt to kill its raw, sulfurous bite, allowing it to melt seamlessly into the rich, lemony fat.
Ingredients
- canned tuna in olive oil or leftover cooked white fish8 oz
- European-style unsalted butter5 tbsp
- yellow onion1/2 small
- lemon juice1 1/2 tbsp
- fine sea salt1/2 tsp
- black pepper1/4 tsp
- fresh dill1 tbsp
Method
- 01
Tame the raw onion by drawing out its harsh sulfurous bite with salt.
Place the finely minced onion in the bottom of a medium mixing bowl, sprinkle with a small pinch of salt, and toss to combine. Let it sit for ten minutes so the onion softens and releases its astringency, ensuring it won't overpower the delicate fish.
- 02
Add the prepared fish to the softened onions.
Ensure your canned fish is completely drained of oil or water, or that your leftover soup fish is thoroughly checked for pin bones, then add it to the mixing bowl.
- 03
Mash the butter and fish together into a cohesive paste.
Add the softened butter to the bowl and use a sturdy fork to aggressively work everything together until the mixture transforms from distinct flakes into a creamy but slightly rustic spread.
- 04
Balance the richness of the fat with fresh acid and seasonings.
Vigorously mix in the lemon juice, fine sea salt, black pepper, and fresh dill. Taste the paste and add more lemon juice if needed to perfectly cut through the heavy richness of the butter.
- 05
Chill the paste briefly to let the flavors marry.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least thirty minutes to allow the butter to firm up slightly before spreading thickly over toasted sourdough or a baguette.
From Cook Romanian in America.