Smoked Trout Dip with White Wine Somm Seasoning

Smoked trout folded into cream cheese and crème fraîche with lemon and Clif Family White Wine Somm Seasoning. Make it in the morning, pull it out at six.

There is a category of appetizer that requires you to be standing at the stove when the doorbell rings. This is not that.

Smoked fish is already doing the hard part — it arrives salty, smoky and full of flavor, so all you’re doing is giving it something soft to land in. The cream cheese brings body, the crème fraîche keeps it from going dense, and the lemon cuts straight through both. Our White Wine Somm Seasoning handles the rest, which is why the ingredient list is as short as it is.

Then it sits in the fridge all day and quietly gets better. You do nothing. That’s the appeal.

Six things, one bowl.

• 8 oz smoked trout, skin and bones removed, flaked (Fishwife or Trader Joe’s brand)
• 8 oz cream cheese, softened at room temperature
• ½ cup crème fraîche
• 1 lemon — zest and juice
• 2 tsp Clif Family White Wine Somm Seasoning, plus a pinch for the top
• 3 scallions or a small handful of chives, thinly sliced

Crackers, crostini or celery, for serving.

Serves 8–10 · 10 minutes · chill at least 2 hours

1. Flake the fish. Pull the smoked fish apart with your fingers, checking for skin and pin bones as you go. Fingers find bones that eyes miss.
2. Make the base. Stir the cream cheese and crème fraîche together until smooth, then add the lemon zest, lemon juice and Somm Seasoning.
3. Fold, don’t beat. Add the fish and most of the scallions and fold gently. You want visible flakes of fish, not a purée — texture is what makes people go back for a third cracker.
4. Chill. Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours, or all day. The smoke and lemon settle into each other while you go do something else.
5. Serve. Scrape into a shallow bowl, top with the remaining scallions and a pinch more Somm Seasoning. Let it sit out 15 minutes before the first guest arrives.

Want to gild it? A spoonful of capers or a little grated horseradish folded in at the end gives it an edge.

• Salmon is the easy substitute. Smoked salmon behaves exactly the same way here.
• Salt last, if at all. Between the smoked fish and the Somm Seasoning, there is usually enough. Taste before you reach for the salt.
• It keeps for 3 days. Covered in the fridge. It is arguably better on day two.
• Room temperature matters. Straight from the fridge it spreads like mortar. Fifteen minutes on the counter fixes it.

This is a 2025 Unoaked Chardonnay situation, full stop. Smoked fish and cream cheese are rich, and oak on top of that is too much of a good thing. Unoaked Chardonnay does the opposite — it stays bright, meets the lemon where it lives, and resets your palate between bites so the last cracker tastes as good as the first. If you only open one bottle with this dip, open that one.