… you don't fancy a bowl of soup, how about paté to go with the soda bread?
Here are three easy, peasy recipes.
Mushroom paté
250g chestnut mushrooms
250g cream cheese
4 cloves of roasted garlic
30g unsalted butter
a glug of extra dry sherry*
salt and black pepper
2 tsps of tapenade – optional
Trim the mushrooms, clean and then slice finely. Using a medium frying pan – mine measures 28cms in diameter - melt the butter and then add the sliced mushrooms with the garlic and sauté. Mushrooms release liquid and they need to be sautéed until it has disappeared – 10 minutes. 7 minutes into the cooking time add a glug of sherry. Continue sautéeing until the sherry has been absorbed – 3 minutes.
Let the mushrooms cool.
Blitz the mushrooms in a food processor, add the cream cheese and blitz again. Season to taste and leave to cool. Decant the paté into pots or boxes to suit and fridge until required.
Serve with whatever form of bread that takes your fancy. Me – I've just baked soda bread – tee hee!
*A glug refers to liquid, usually oil or alcohol too in my culinary book. If you want to be reasonably accurate then a glug is what I'd call a generous tablespoon.
*A word about dry sherry. If you're not a sherry drinker – not my favourite tipple – then you might find it useful to know that, for the purpose of this recipe, and anything to do with enhancing the flavour of mushrooms, fino is the driest followed by manzanilla and then amontillado – any of the three will do very nicely. Alternatively you could use a glug of a good red wine.
Pushed for time – need inspiration? Take 150g of your paté, loosen it with 150g of double (heavy) cream and warm through. Hey presto, you have a mushroom sauce to serve with cooked chicken, Quorn fillets or fold through pasta.
By my reckoning a mid week supper would probably take the time it takes to cook the pasta and warm the sauce.
That's got to be a result!
OR
Cream cheese and cashew nut paté
1 carrot, finely grated
225g cream cheese
100g roasted cashew nuts, crushed to a rubble – not
to a dust!
1 tbsp of chopped chives
salt and black pepper
black olives – pitted and sliced (optional)
Mix all the ingredients together, box and fridge. If you are feeling really virtuous have a side of raw carrot!
Serve on whatever takes your fancy – rice cakes, gluten free cheese oatcakes, toast or even as a sandwich filling – a toasted bagel would be good.
OR if you fancy fish :
Smoked Mackerel Paté
250g smoked mackerel
250g quark (it's a soft cheese made from skimmed milk – not nice on its own but great as a low fat product for healthy pate!)
Glug of lemon juice
Black pepper
Two tsps of creamed horseradish
Remove the skin from the mackerel, flake it and pop into your food processor. Add the quark and blitz with the mackerel, then add the lemon juice, black pepper and horseradish, blitz again. You can gauge the consistency of the paté to your personal taste.
You can then add, for example, chopped onion, chopped capers.
Serve with anything you like, toasted bread, rice cakes or add to warmed pitta slit, with salad. Add to cooked pasta, hot or cold – perfect for lunch on the run!
If you can't get hold of quark you can use cottage cheese - low fat of course!
Very healthy – very virtuous!
No comments:
Post a Comment