This gorgeous Mushroom Pate is a beautiful vegan pâté flavoured with wild mushrooms and a whisper of fragrant truffle oil. Serve with toasted sourdough and your favourite crackers, along with a glass of wine.
When you think of pate it is difficult to not think about France.
But its history dates further back than that, all the way to the ancient Romans, and perhaps before.
As it has been adopted by different cultures over the centuries it has evolved and changed. The French refined it, into the dish that we know today.
It is a dish that many see as fiddly. But don't let appearances fool you because this delicious and utterly decadent mushroom pate is easy. Especially when your food processor does all the hard work!
This delicious and utterly decadent mushroom pate, although it requires a few ingredients, is easy to prepare! Oh, and it's vegan too!
A mixture of wild mushrooms adds a lovely depth to this vegan pate. I've used a mix of baby swiss brown (also known as cremini mushrooms), king brown, shiitake and wood ear mushrooms.
Joining the mushrooms are creamy cannellini beans (tinned ones are fine) and nutty French green lentils. The cannellini beans provide a lovely creaminess while the lentils add body and another dimension.
To this mushroom pate, I like to add a bit of truffle oil - for an extra touch of decadence. Choose a good truffle oil here. The better the quality the better the end result.
The finishing touch is a lovely mushroom jelly. This is a totally optional step but adds the lovely glossy sheen on top.
Serve with your favourite crackers, toasted sourdough or crudites.
📖 Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 tbs dried wild mushrooms
- 100 g French green lentils, (3 ½ oz)
- 2 shallots, finely chopped
- 3 tbs olive oil
- 300 g wild mushrooms (swiss brown/cremini king brown, button and wood ear),, chopped, (10oz)
- 2 tbs cognac, bourbon or port are also fine substitutes
- 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 3 tbs thyme leaves, roughly chopped
- 200 g tinned cannellini beans, drained (7 oz)
- ½ teaspoon salt plus more to taste
- ½ teaspoon truffle oil, or more to taste
- ½ teaspoon soy sauce, gluten-free variety if needed
- ½ teaspoon agar agar powder
- thyme, to decorate
Instructions
- Begin by placing the wild mushrooms in 1 ¼ cups of boiling water.
- Place the lentils in a saucepan and fill the saucepan with water. Place over a high heat and bring to a boil. Once boiling reduce to a simmer. Simmer for 20 minutes, or until tender. Drain and leave to cool.
- Place a large frying pan over a medium low heat. Add 1 tbs of the olive oil and fry the shallot until golden. Remove from the pan and crank the heat up to medium high. Add half the remaining oil and cook half of the mushrooms until lightly golden. Remove from the pan and cook the remaining mushrooms with the remaining oil. Return the mushrooms and shallots to the pan. Add the cognac to the pan along with the garlic and thyme leaves. Cook until almost all of the liquid is absorbed. Leave to cool.
- Once the mushrooms have cooled place in a food processor with the drained lentils, cannellini beans, salt and truffle oil. Remove the dried mushrooms from the soaking liquid, keeping the soaking liquid for the jelly/jello topping. Process until it forms a spreadable paste (I like to leave a little texture in the mixture). Check the seasonings and adjust to taste. You can also add more truffle oil at this point as well. Keep in mind that the flavours won't be quite as distinct when the pate is cold, so you may need a little more seasoning and truffle oil than if you were eating it at room temperature.
- Divide the mixture between 2 jars (or whatever serving dish you want) and refrigerate.
- To make the jelly (jello) topping place the reserved mushroom soaking liquid in a saucepan along with the soy sauce and agar and whisk to combine. Place over a medium heat and bring to a simmer. Reduce to low and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove the pate from the refrigerator and pour over the top. Add a few thyme leaves and refrigerate until set.
- Serve with your favourite crackers, toast or favourite vegetables.
Notes
Nutrition (estimated per serving)
Tamara says
Bravo! This looks spectacular Jennifer! I can almost taste the depth of flavor you've developed in this lovely Mushroom Pate... It's going on my next party menu for sure!
Nicole @ Delicious Everyday says
Thanks Tamara. I was really pleased with how it turned out 🙂
Nico @ yumsome says
Wow, this looks utterly gorgeous. It's definitely going on this weekend's to-make list!(And you're right, the marble looks fantastic!)
Nicole @ Delicious Everyday says
Thanks so much for the kind words! I hope you enjoy the pate if you decide to make it. If you do feel free to take a photo and tag @deliciouseveryday on Instagram or Facebook or use #deliciouseveryday on Twitter. I'd love to see! 🙂
Karen Salter- Kay says
Hello! I am trying to do things in advance before Christmas. We are having pate for a starter and I have vegans in the family so this looks just right. Can I freeze it in advance?
Nicole says
I haven't tried freezing this recipe. But honestly, mushrooms generally don't freeze very well. You can definitely make it a couple days ahead of time though, and store in the fridge.
Shelley says
Ok, I finally got around to making this the other day as a trial run for xmas. Oh my goodness this was divine! ❤️ I have been vegan for 4 years now although my family are not vegan but this is my third year of making a completely vegan xmas dinner. It is funny how they decided a fully vegan meal was fine when I told them anyone wishing to have animal derived items in the food for dinner would have to make it themselves as I was not doing it. And they were surprised how good the dinner was and did not need animal items in it.So now, every year I try to top the one before. This year is shaping up well and is looking like it is going to be a great one, especially with this pate! Thank you.