Mushroom Pate (Pâté)
This deliciously rich Mushroom Pate can be a starter for dinner or even a sandwich filler! It is full of flavour and texture with deceptively few calories.
My husband loves mushrooms. In the city we live in there is a mushroom factory – they grow all types of mushrooms for wholesale and Bruce goes there once a week and buys a kilogram or two of the freshest, most delicious mushrooms. He always gets a mixture of Portobello, Button and Cremini mushrooms (all of these are available in the supermarket – nothing exotic about any of them). So I am always looking for a new way to present them. We put mushrooms in salad, omlettes, rice, soup, stir fry – anything actually. One day I whipped this easy Mushroom Pate recipe up and everyone really liked it. Did you know that mushrooms contain large amounts of vitamin D? Mushrooms that have been exposed to UV light are the only natural, vegetarian source of vitamin D.
INGREDIENTS
1 cup slivered almonds
1 clove garlic
1 small onion
1/2 kg. (1 lb) mixed mushrooms
3 tbsp. Olive oil
1/2 tsp. salt
2 sprigs fresh thyme OR 1/2 tsp. dried thyme
Pepper, to taste
2-3 tbsp. dry sherry OR white wineOR vermouth
Chopped parsley for garnish (optional)
PREPARATION
1. Toast the almonds in a dry pan (no oil) on the stove. Stir often so they don't burn. (please don't try to salvage them if they do burn – the burnt taste will ruin the flavor of the pâté). Once the almonds are toasted, set them aside for use later.
2. Place the onion, garlic and mushrooms in your food processor and whiz for just a few seconds. The idea is to coarsely chop the vegetables so if you rather do it by hand – that's okay too.
3. Sauté the mushrooms, onions and garlic in the olive oil for a few minutes. Add the salt and pepper and thyme leaves and continue cooking until all the liquid has evaporated. Add the wine/vermouth, sherry and cook another 2 minutes.
4. Place all the ingredients including the almonds in your food processor and whiz until you get the consistency you want. I like it just a bit chunky and others like it creamy and smooth.
5. Garnish with parsley before serving with crackers, toast, celery sticks, strips of red pepper or whatever you like.
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I'm Mimi (that's me on the Nile River!) and this is my recipe collection. I love to be creative, love to cook and love to entertain. I'm also veggie which means that all of the above gets a bit more complicated – and a lot more fun!
