RCP: Rebecca Webb's Shitake Hazelnut Vegetarian Pate

[Jenise]

Reposted for archival purposes from another thread--Jenise.

Shitake Hazelnut Vegetarian Pate*

4 oz Shitake Mushrooms
1/8 tbsp thyme
3 tbsp butter
1/4 tsp salt
1 clove garlic, minced
1/8 tsp pepper
1/4 cup toasted hazelnuts
2 tsp dry sherry
3 oz Neufchatel cheese
1 tsp fresh parsley

Trim and discard woody ends from mushrooms. In a food processor, finely chop mushroom caps and stems. Melt butter in a medium skillet. Add mushrooms and garlic and saute for at least 5 minutes. Stir in thyme, pepper and salt. Chop parsley in food processor. Add hazelnuts and process. Add Neufchatel cheese and process until smooth. Add sherry and mushroom mixture, and process until well-mixed. Spread or mold in serving dish. Cover and chill for at least 1 hour. Serve with crackers. Yields 1 cup. Other mushrooms can be substituted for or combined with Shitake.

Jenise - Thanks for posting this tasty treat.

I went directly to the grocery store yesterday to shop for the ingredients. Hubby and I chowed down the whole bowl with a loaf of crusty bread and some inexpensive merlot/cab. Was one of the most enjoyable nights we'd spent together in a long time (too much hub-bub around here lately).

Thanks for the excuse to slow down. It was delicious!

[Jenise]

Excellent! Love those recipe reports, but all the thanks go to Rebecca (who owns a mushroom farm in Kentucky, btw) for the original post.

[Jenise]

Oh, and to further give credit where it's due, Rebecca tells me the recipe came from a book by Paul Stamets called Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms .

Excellent! Love those recipe reports, but all the thanks go to Rebecca (who owns a mushroom farm in Kentucky, btw) for the original post.

Rebecca lives right here in Lexington Kentucky BTW, I need to get the ingredients and make this too...maybe this weekend!

Thanks, then, to Rebecca! I never would have come up with something like this on my own. I'm adding it to the Thanksgiving menu this year.

Mushrooms are honorary meat as far as I am concerned!

Your recipe uses many of the ingredients of my chanterelle pie - hazelnuts etc.

One suggestion - the minute I read the recipe, I though that the perfect wine for it would be a full bottle of chilled Manzanilla in front of the fire.

[Jenise]

I thought that the perfect wine for it would be a full bottle of chilled Manzanilla in front of the fire.

Mmmm! Laura and I will be right over!

I thought that the perfect wine for it would be a full bottle of chilled Manzanilla in front of the fire.

Mmmm! Laura and I will be right over!

Hmm....better get out 2 bottles, one a Fino and one a nice dry Amontillado so we can compare.....

[Jenise]

Hmm....better get out 2 bottles, one a Fino and one a nice dry Amontillado so we can compare.....

Start arranging the logs....

I've got several cords of firewood I can contribute to the party.

I've got several cords of firewood I can contribute to the party.

I was going to say that wood was something I had no shortage of, but Jenise has a notoriously dirty mind.....

I am going shopping after work for the ingredients and a bottle of suitable Sherry. I can't wait to try this one. Now - Manzanilla or Amontillado - decisions, decisions.....

[Jenise]

I was going to say that wood was something I had no shortage of...

Well, how was it? The pate I mean....

Well, how was it? The pate I mean....

Well first, let me decry the absence of proper alphabet options on this site. Hmmph - a wine site that has no automatic accents available. Every time I see reference to anyone eating a 'pate' I can't help thinking of them chowing down on someone's scalp....ack!

So anyway, back to the paté

It were great, Ma'am. And in the absence of any readily available Neuchatel, Phillie (full fat of course) worked perfectly well. A slightly chilled Lustau Los Arcos dry Amontillado and SWMBO was nuzzling my hazelnuts with abandon.

In fact we ran out of crackers and she insisted that I simply slice it up and hand it to her - couldn't even take time to go downstairs and fetch more crackies. Or was it that she had (correctly) divined that the lustful glances I had been directing her way were actually aimed at the rest of the Sherry in her glass, not at herself?

You know, after a bottle of wine with dinner, a half bottle of Sherry is not quite enough but a full bottle would be too much....there is something to be said for the half litre size as they use for Tokay, isn't there?


BTW, I mentioned it on another non-foodie site and their Bowdlerising software didn't like the name of the mushroom. No shiit(ake) Batman!

I am happy to see that people are enjoying this recipe. I might mention that it is better after a day .... if you can wait that long to eat it.

We never have any left when we make it.

BTW ... if the person that has the chanterelle pie recipe, I'd love to add that one to my collection.

Thanks all!

BTW ... if the person that has the chanterelle pie recipe, I'd love to add that one to my collection.

Thanks all!

Posted here last week, Rebecca:

http://www.wineloverspage.com/forum/village/viewtopic.php?t=4128&highlight=chanterelle+pie

Thanks so much!

[Jenise]

Rebecca, here's another report: I made this mixture yesterday, but added just-cooked lentils to the mix, rolled it inside several layers of philo pastry and baked them: voila, strudel! Actually, six of them, about 1" across, that I cut it into bite-sized pieces and took, warm, to a Tarts & Vickers costume party.

Bill: guess which one I was?

Bill: guess which one I was?

Farts and Tickers?

You guys have some strange parties......

[Jenise]

Hey, it's an English idea. Your fault.

I've got a bowl of this coming up to temp right now. A crusty loaf of bread and some chianti & a white for dinner (2003 Monte Antico for me & 06 Kim Crawford for Dina)

Preliminary snacking while preparing it this afternoon showed a pretty good match with both wines.

I'm becoming quite intrigued with the versatility of these mushroom based pate's and wine. Besides the last two, I've never delved into this area of food. I know there is world of pate out there, but I've never gone there since most of them seemed to involve some sort of organ meats.

Any other suggestions for non-organ meat based pate for wine matching?

Richard

I made a double-batch of this last night and had just a taste of it as it went into the refrigerator, yum! I'm looking forward to tasting it tonight. Thanks for posting!