A vegetarian paté made with mushrooms, lentils and walnuts to eat on toasted bread with a cranberry chutney
I made a similar recipe last Christmas. My sister had just decided to become vegan and I was already flexitarian, therefore perfectly happy to accommodate her wishes. Even though my parents would have probably preferred some meat dish, I decided to cook an entire vegan Christmas dinner to make everyone (almost) happy. It was the kind of challenge I like!
Some days ago I decided to repeat the recipe in a vegetarian version and added just a tbsp of butter. But I knew something was missing and started to look around in the kitchen for the missing ingredient. Cranberries, perfect! A cranberry sauce would have given the perfect contrast to flavor and texture: the sweet & sourness to the quite mild taste and the wet – jellyish texture to the smoothness of the paté.
When I was little, my mother used to be open and creative with food, so I grew up being a kind of curious eater and I might have a particular taste sometimes. That’s why I need to ask my husband’s approval to be sure that a recipe is not too quirky. He grew up in an Italian family where tradition was more the rule and when I dare too much he’ll tell me.
It happened with the first version of the Chestnut & Apple Soup when he refused to eat “that sweet thing for dinner”. I loved it but he was just horrified. The second version of the soup is now #husbandapproved.
In any case, I was not sure to have his go-ahead for this combination “lentils-mushroom and (salty) cranberries but I did! Yeah, it’s salty. I added a bit of salt, pepper, and thyme to the sauce. It’s really good!
And these are the perfect Christmas berries!
Mushroom, Lentil and Walnut Paté with Toasted Bread and Cranberry Chutney
Equipment
- Good blender or food processor
Ingredients
- tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp butter
- 3 onions, chopped
- salt and pepper to taste
- 250 g champignons (0.6 lbs), sliced
- 4-5 tbps lentils, boiled
- 1 dl white wine (or 0.5 cups)
- 1 tbsp cognac
- 1 – 2 tbsp almond butter
- 50 g walnuts
- 4 bread slices
Chutney
- 1 dl (dried) cranberries (0.5 cups)
- 0.5 dl white wine (0.25 cup)
- thyme leaves
Instructions
Paté
- Heat oil in a pan at medium heat, and sauté the onion until translucent. Add salt, butter, mushrooms and keep sautéing until the champignons are tender (10 – 15 minutes). Add lentils, wine and cognac and cook for another 1 minute or until the liquids are evaporated. Put the mixture in a blender or food processor together with walnuts and almond butter. Blend until very smooth. This might take about 3-4 minutes, depending on your blender power. The thinner the better!
Chutney
- In a pot heat 0.5 dl (about 0.25) of water and add cranberries, wine, thyme and a pinch of salt and pepper. Simmer for about 2 minutes or until the liquids are evaporated.
Garnishing and serving
- Toast the bread slices and spread the paté on top. Garnish with the chutney and sprinkle with a little pepper.
