When I was at the store buying the ingredients for this dinner, I looked down into my red hand basket and thought "wow, this is all old lady food!" Smoked herring, pickled beets, prepared horseradish? I may as well have done all my cat food and yarn shopping at the same time! Well, my cat has plenty of food, I have yet to learn to learn to crochet beyond the most basic row, and my hair is not permed. (I did by pralines and cream ice cream during this trip though. not as old lady as rum raisin (mmmmm), but still).
WHATEVER. so I have reached a point in my life where I like old lady foods. I was in Wisconsin for work last week, and one of the menu items at this adorable pub was a smoked whitefish/horseradish appetizer, that I couldn't talk my colleagues into ordering. So I had to take matters into my own (not liver-spotted-yet!) hands and make a smoked fish, horseradish-involved dinner my own-dang self. And I couldn't leave out the beets. It just seemed natural... smoke fish, preserved horseradish... I needed a sweet, colorful, shelf-stable root veg to round out the equation! You see the logic... right?
WHATEVER. this was good. Smokey, fishy canned fish, zingy, nostril-tweaking horseradish, creamy...erm.. cream cheese, and sweet, earthy pickled beets. I ate this by my lonesome old-ladyish self, but this is a quick dinner party starter idea. What? You don't have a Russian-themed dinner party planned? Get on it!
Smoked Herring Horseradish Spread
1 block cream cheese
3 Tablespoons prepared horseradish
1 8 oz. can smoked herring
1 clove garlic, grated
salt
dash of white pepper
as much black pepper as you can stand to grind
Mix together. Refrigerate until use. Spread on slices of baguette that have been sprinkled with olive oil and toasted. Top with julienned pickled beets and chopped fresh chives.
