Smoked Salmon Spread

About 30 years ago, a coworker gave me a recipe for smoked salmon spread, along with a can of Alaska smoked salmon. This has remained a favorite of ours since then but as always; we have tweaked the recipe to match our tastes. Because I am able to smoke fish, we sometimes use home smoked salmon, trout, bluefish or others to make this wonderful appetizer.

1 6oz can smoked salmon (or an equal amount of home smoked fish)
8 oz cream cheese
8 oz small curd cottage cheese
1 clove garlic, minced
2 scallions (green onions) chopped fine
1 tsp fines herbes
1/2 tsp paprika (we used smoked paprika to make it really special)
Tabasco or other hot sauce (a shake or two depending on your taste)
1 oz dry white wine

Mash the cream cheese in a bowl with a fork. Gradually add the cottage cheese and continue to blend the two. Add flaked smoked salmon, garlic, scallions, fines herbes, paprika and wine and blend well. Serve as a dip or a spread for crackers. If you are making it as a dip, you may need to thin it a bit with some milk. For those of you daring enough to use your own smoked fish, the milk is handy when the fish is a little drier. This spread is much better if allowed to sit a few hours or overnight for the flavors to develop.