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Many people, when they hear the word Pâté, think of meat and mostly of poor geese in cages with their head and neck sticking through while some French housewife has a funnel stuck into its beak and down its throat while grinding away corn into the funnel to fatten up the goose’s liver. Gross, but rightly true (at least in the old days before animal activists came into being) and enough to turn anyone into the vegetarian.
However, many people enjoy meat Pâté of all kinds and rightly so as that is the stuff that makes the world go around. I mean really, people eat cold cuts by the ton!
Those of us who are adventurous cooks may want to consider using some of our organic gardening harvests to produce vegetable Pâté and those of us without the benefit of gardens can always go to the local farmer’s market in season or the local food market which today is stocked year round with vegetables.
We are starting to see them in the organic sections of better food markets and gourmet stores so why not make some at home?
You can make them out of roasted vegetables such as eggplant and peppers when your garden is giving out those beauties or you can make one from mushrooms and even add nuts such as cashews, sunflower seeds, walnuts or pecans for additional flavor. There are recipes that use white beans as the Pâté base.
Pâté is not made to be put on saltines. If you must use crackers then buy some really good crackers. However, the best place to put the Pâté is on slices of a fresh, crusty baguette.
The nice thing about many Pâtés is that they do not require cooking, only the use of your blender or food processor. However, for those of us who do not mind putting on the oven, here is a nice tomato and cashew Pâté recipe.
To start pre-heat your oven to 350°F and take out a 2 x 5 x 9 inch shallow pan and line with wax paper or parchment paper and grease paper with butter.
Warm 2 tablespoons of olive oil or sun dried tomato oil in a good saucepan over medium heat and put in 1 finely chopped large onion and 2 finely chopped large cloves of garlic and cook, covered for 5 minutes.
Now add one 14 ounce can of drained diced tomatoes or 14 ounces of your own whole canned tomatoes that you have drained and diced. You cook this all uncovered for about 3 minutes until any liquid has evaporated.
Now I remove from the heat and add 12 sundried tomatoes (that were packed in the oil I used earlier) chopped fine, 1 cup of finely chopped cashews, the zest of ˝ lemon finely chopped, 1 tablespoon of finely chopped fresh basil and all of 1 beaten egg except for 1 tablespoons which I will reserve for glazing the crust later on. (Put this in a small jar with a top and put in the refrigerator as you will need it later)
I now add a pinch of good kosher salt and some pepper and
I spoon this whole mixture into my prepared pan, smoothing off the top and bake for 45 to 60 minutes or until the center is firm to the touch.
Now I remove from oven, turn off the oven, let cook and when cool I turn the Pâté onto a piece of aluminum foil or plastic wrap and finish wrapping it up to cool more in the refrigerator. The great thing about this recipe is that is can be made 2 or 3 days in advance and leave in the refrigerator.
When I am ready to finish it off I have ˝ pound of puff pastry from my local store’s freezer section. (I used to make my own, but theirs is fool proof, however you can use your own.)
Pre-heat oven to 400°F.
I roll out the puff pastry on a lightly floured board to a 12 inch square. I cut off the top third measuring 4 x 12 inches. Now I take my Pâté out of the refrigerator, unwrap it and place on the small piece of pastry and I drape the larger piece over the top and now the whole Pâté is covered once I ease the pastry down over the sides. I press the edges together firmly on the bottom and use water to seal it closed.
I trim if necessary, cut some slash vents on top, glaze the top with my 2 tablespoons of saved beaten egg and bake in the pre-heated oven for 25 to 30 minutes on a cookie sheet that I have lined with parchment paper. Your pastry will puff up and be crisp.
Remove and serve at once, carefully slicing through your Pâté.
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Author Bio Box: Arlene Wright Correll
 For more gardening or cooking information click http://www.learn-america.com/
To see Arlene’s Gardens and to read her gardening diaries and to take a walk through her pictorial garden or click on Arlene’s Books where you can download or buy her gardening & cook books, including her new book, “The ABC’s of Wine and Beer Making”. Many of her articles written for Greenthumbarticles have paintings she has created of the subject and they can be seen at her “How to Do It” site. Remember to check out her artwork, especially of her fruits and vegetables. Arlene says, “All my royalties from the sale of my books go to the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and I thank you for visiting my site.”
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