Traditionally pâté is made with meats, or even offel such as liver, which is cooked and ground with fat to make a spreadable paste. This vegetarian, mushroom alternative is made in the same vein, combining super tasty mushrooms with butter and crème fraîche to make a rich, creamy and full of flavour pâté!
I only discovered shiitake mushrooms last year and since then I’ve been hooked! They have this intense mushroom flavour that makes anything you add them to simply amazing. They work particularly great when paired up with another earthy mushroom such as the chestnut mushroom, helping to really bring out that maximum flavour kick. Shiitake mushrooms used to be a very specialist ingredient but in more recent times you can find them readily available in super markets – of course if you can’t find them, or you’re on a budget then by all means don’t use them, but if you can keep them in then you won’t regret it!
Vegetarian
300g Chestnut Mushrooms, chopped into small pieces
100g Shiitake Mushrooms, chopped into small pieces
200ml Crème fraîche
75g Unsalted butter
3 Shallots, finely chopped
2 Cloves Garlic, finely sliced
1/5 Whole Nutmeg, ground
1/2 Lemon, for a good squeeze of lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste
- In a large non stick frying pan heat the butter on a medium heat, you want the butter to be all melted and to just begin to bubble slightly. (Take care not to have the pan too high as you may run the risk of catching the butter). Add the shallots and garlic and sauté for about 4-5 minutes or until the shallots soften.
- Add all the chopped mushrooms to the pan and cook for about 15 minutes, the mushrooms will shrink and release some of their moisture where the mixture will become quite wet, after a while the excess moisture will cook off and the mixture will thicken up.
- Once the mixture has thickened take the pan off the heat and allow to cool for 5 minutes before tipping the contents of the pan into your food processor/blender. Pulse the mushroom mixture to begin with, scraping down the sides to reach an even, rough consistency. To this add the crème fraîche, nutmeg and a good squeeze of lemon juice and blend to combine ingredients, add salt and pepper to taste then blend to your desired consistency.
- Once blended fully pour the mixture into a dish, pot or ramekin and allow to cool uncovered. The pâté will be a little looser at this point, but is perfectly fine to eat straight away, ideally place it in the fridge for about 4 hrs where it will firm up slightly.
- Serve with crusty bread, toast points or as we like to do scooped onto romaine lettuce leaves.
You can also make this pâté into a dip, simply add more crème fraîche and butter (about 50g and 25g extra respectively).
Enjoy!
Dave
Eating Vegetarian 