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Cook the Book: Mushroom Pâté

Posted by Adam Kuban, October 29, 2007 at 2:15 PM

And, as promised, here's your first recipe from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian. It's for a mushroom pâté that would be wonderful at your upcoming Thanksgiving dinner.

Serve it on crackers or toast or in canapés. You could also use it as a sandwich filling.

Mushroom Pâté

- makes 6 to 8 servings -

Ingredients

3 tablespoons neutral oil, like grapeseed or corn 1 medium onion, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
About 2 pounds cremini or white mushrooms, cleaned, trimmed, and roughly chopped
1/4 cup dried porcini (optional), reconstituted
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons tomato paste
3/4 cup dry white wine (optional)
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 cup Fresh Bread Crumbs or crumbled crackers, plus more as needed
Finely chopped chives or parsley leaves for garnish

Procedure

1. Put the oil in a large skillet over high heat. When it is hot, add the onion, carrot, and celery and cook until the onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the mushrooms, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and cook for another few minutes, then add the tomato paste and the white wine if you're using it. Stir and cook until the liquid is mostly evaporated, about 10 minutes. Turn the heat off and let the vegetables cool.

2. Transfer the mushroom mixture to a food processor, add the lemon juice and bread crumbs, and purée until smooth. Taste and season with more salt, pepper, or lemon juice as needed. The consistency should be fairly thick but still easily spreadable; add more bread crumbs if it's too thin; add vegetable stock or water if it's thick.

3. Spoon the pâté mixture into a terrine or ramekin(s) and refrigerate until chilled. Serve at room temperature, garnished with chives or parsley. It will keep in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.

Lentil Pâté: Green, brown, or red lentils work fine: Substitute 2 cups cooked and drained lentils, reserving some of the cooking liquid, for the mushrooms including the porcini. Add a couple teaspoons minced garlic and a curry powder or garam masala if you like, especially with the red lentils.

Walnut Pâté: Not as smooth as mushroom pâé, but quite rich and deliciously nutty in flavor. Substitute 2 cups shelled walnuts for the mushrooms, including the porcini. Omit the tomato paste and add 2 teaspoons minced fresh thyme leaves. No need to cook the walnuts in Step 1. Proceed with the recipe.

Reconstituting Dried Mushrooms

All you need is a bowl and some hot water to reconstitute dried mushrooms. Soak the mushrooms in the hot water until they are soft, anywhere from 5 to 30 minutes. occasionally you'll need to change the water for very touch or thick mushrooms. Drain and save the soaking liquid (strained if sand or dirt has settled at the bottom of the bowl) and use it as a stock in soups, stews, and sauces; it has great mushroom flavor. Trim away any hard spots on the mushrooms and use just as you would fresh.

Chinese dried shiitakes are a slightly different story; they must be soaked in boiling-hot water (you might even have to change the water once to get them soft), and they need to be trimmed assiduously. One way to deal with all of this is to cook them in stock (or Kombu Dashi), then cool, trim, and use them; the process will enhance both stock and mushrooms.

Fresh Bread Crumbs

- makes about 2 cups -

Ingredients

About 1/2 large loaf of French or Italian bread, preferably a day or two old

Procedure

1. Tear the bread into pieces and put about half in a food processor. Pulse a few times, then let the machine run for a few seconds, until coarsely chopped.

2. Remove and repeat with the remaining bread. Use immediately or store in an airtight container for up to a month.

4 Comments | Tags: Cook the Book, cookbooks, How to Cook Everything Vegetarian, Mark Bittman, mushroom pâté, mushrooms, vegetarian