A RECIPE FOR DOC

We thought we would share another popular recipe for smoked eel pate.

First catch and smoke your eel. If you can't - buy one but it is waaaay cheaper to catch your own and its much more fun.

So you need the smoked flesh of two smallish eels, our family likes them about 2 foot long. Any bigger and they can be a bit rich. Smaller is sweeter.

Now you have to get the meat off the bones. I doe this with my fingers -its easy and i like getting down and messy with my tucker.

smunch it all up.

then add some sour cream.then fold in a couple of tablespoons of whipped cream.
Then chop up some parsley and some chives. And add a splash of lemoncello liqueur and a bit of tarragon. then a dash of cayenne pepper. and salt to taste.. but be careful with the salt.

Then use a fork and mush it all together and put it in the fridge for at least 4 hours to let the flavours get to know one another.

And it goes well with a crisp Monteiths Pilsener.

We are currently growing some horseradish as it goes very well with smoked eel.

ENDANGERED????!!???

Well this comes as a bit of a surprise , apparently long finned eels are endangered and someone is all frothy because you can buy them in down town Auckland. Well if DOC wants to take a look at a healthy and thriving population then they should have a look see in our backyard.

(Good looking eel huh ... shame about the chick!)

The river is swarming with them We speared one and caught approx 15 more in the fyke net on New Years eve. . We kept four in total.

Now this might sound a lot but its not. We get a feed of eels about three times a year. And thats the way its going to stay. While we think the river is pretty healthy - we reckon its too small to sustain a commercial harvest. however we would be interested to find out if indeed it is fished commercially.

Some were large as witnessed by this picture but there are also many many small ones.

We just want to know how DOC has come to the conclusion that they are endangered?