Move on if you’re allergic to mushrooms or nuts – this vegan pâté is made with copious amounts of both.
My experience of pâté is limited to chicken liver pâté sandwiches as a child in the 70s (so you can imagine what that was like) and, more recently, to the mushroom pâté in the red tubes sold in Holland & Barrett (which, if you’ve never tried, is very nice indeed). I’m doubtful whether either of these are representative of ‘real’ pâté as, whenever I see it being made on Come Dine With Me or its ilk, it’s always served as a hard lump that can be cut with a knife and not the spreadable mush I’m used to.
However, while in Sainsbury’s last Saturday, I went past a shelf containing pâté and I stopped to have a look at the mushroom one. It contained milk. Of course it fucking did, everything contains milk whether it needs to or not (did you know some manufacturers add milk to their oven chips?) So, obviously I saw that as a challenge to go home and make a vegan mushroom pâté, which is what I did today.
As I said just a second ago, I don’t know whether ‘real’ pâté should be hard or a spreadable mush, but this mushroom pâté is an earthy, smoky, spreadable mush that could be served with flatbreads or oatcakes or rice cakes or in wraps or with salad or as part of a mezze or – my recommended method – just eaten with a spoon. A really big spoon.
You can make this in either a high powered blender (I use a Froothie Optimum G2.1 blender) or a food processor, but it will need to be powerful enough to deal with the cashews, unless you like your pâté ultra-lumpy. It takes quite a while to pulse down but it’s worth it.
Vegan Smoky Garlic Mushroom Pâté
Total Time: 30 minutes
Number of servings: 6
Per Serving 195 calories
Fat 15 g
Carbs 13 g
Protein 7 g
Ingredients
- 300g mushrooms, roughly chopped
- 1 cup cashews
- 2 shallots, sliced
- 5 cloves garlic, crushed
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp liquid smoke
- salt and pepper
Instructions
- Heat a frying pan and dry-fry the cashews until golden brown - about 1 minute
- Remove from the heat and set aside
- Heat the olive oil and fry the shallots and garlic until soft - about 1 minute
- Add the mushrooms and fry for 5 minutes until they've shrunk
- Add the soy sauce, liquid smoke, salt and pepper and carry on frying until most of the liquid has evaporated - about 5 minutes
- Put the cashews and mushrooms into a blender or food processor and pulse until it turns into a paste
- Leave to cool then store in the fridge
13 comments
What a handy dip to make , perfect for snacking or for a party.
Yes, very handy. Versatile, too. I’ve had it with flatbread, courgetti and carrots and it’s fab.
This vegan pate sounds totally lush with those roasted cashews:-) Must find some liquid smoke, sounds awesome!
I got my liquid smoke from Amazon. Apparently Tesco do some now (on the Free From aisle I think) but I saw someone say in an FB group that it wasn’t very good. I haven’t tried it myself though but I probably will when my current bottle runs out.
I love dips and this is right up my street! Pinned it to try later 🙂
Great – thanks for pinning and I hope you like it!
I love mushroom pate, but have always bought the ready-made stuff. Your spin sounds amazing, and perfect for my husband’s packed lunch – bet it’s amazing in toasted pitta bread!
It was fab with flatbread and I had some with spiralized courgette noodles today, which was also amazing!
Even as a veggie for 25 years, I’ve never tried mushroom pate! I’m going to skip the processed ones and try yours – it looks amazing!
Thanks – it’s so much nicer making your own, then you know exactly what’s in it!
I love mushrooms so this is definitely one for me. Gorgeous! Glad to see you’re loving your Froothie blender.
What is the ‘shelf’ life?
Hi Danielle, I’m not exactly sure but I would imagine it’d be fine in the fridge for a week.