Description
This easy Truffled Mushroom Pâté recipe is the perfect make-ahead vegetarian starter for your next festive gathering! You can also use the pâté to make easy canapés for your next holiday party.
Ingredients
Scale
For the Truffled Mushroom Pâté
- 25g (3/4 oz) dried porcini mushrooms
- large knob unsalted butter
- 1 large shallot
- sea salt
- 125g (4 1/2 oz) chestnut mushrooms
- 1 large garlic clove
- 30g (1 oz) freshly grated parmesan (make sure this is vegetarian if this matters to you!)
- 125g (4 1/2 oz) mascarpone (exactly half a tub)
- 1/2 tsp white wine vinegar
- freshly ground black pepper
- 1 1/2 tbsp truffle oil
For the Spiced Butter Topping
- 50g (2 oz) unsalted butter
- 1 tbsp truffle oil
- flaky sea salt
- fresh thyme leaves
- pinch pink peppercorns
- pinch green peppercorns
Instructions
- Pour boiling water over the dried porcini mushrooms in a small bowl and set aside to soak.
- Heat the butter until foaming in a large saucepan over a medium heat. Peel and finely chop the shallot, and fry it with a generous pinch of salt for about 10 minutes until translucent, but not yet starting to brown.
- Meanwhile, peel and finely chop the chestnut mushrooms. Add these to the pan, and cook gently for 20 minutes.
- While the mushrooms are cooking, drain the porcini mushrooms and finely chop these too – don’t pour the soaking liquid away, it is delicious in place of stock in a mushroom risotto, and freezes beautifully.
- Add the chopped porcini and cook for a further 5 minutes. Peel and crush the garlic, adding that to the pan and cooking for a further minute or two until aromatic. Remove the pan from the heat and allow to cool for 20 minutes or so.
- Combine the cooked mushrooms, parmesan, mascarpone, vinegar and a good amount of seasoning in a food processor, blitzing until smooth. Scrape down the edges with a spatula and blitz again, gradually pouring in the truffle oil. Check the seasoning before dividing between 3-4 ramekins (I just go with how many portions I need!) and set aside.
- To make the spiced butter topping, melt the butter in a small saucepan over a medium heat until it has clarified. This means that the solids have sunk to the bottom and the clear yellow butter has floated to the top. Remove from the heat and pour the clear clarified butter off into a small jug – I catch any odd bits of solids by doing this through a small pastry sieve.
- Stir the truffle oil into the clarified butter and pour this over the top of each portion of pâté to create a seal. Lightly crust the peppercorns in a mortar and pestle, and sprinkle these, along with the thyme leaves and a sprinkling of sea salt over each portion, allowing it to sink into the butter. Chill in the fridge for a couple of hours until set, but bring back up to room temperature before serving.
Notes
This recipe can be easily doubled, but if you do this use a mezzaluna to chop the mushrooms or else you’ll be there forever!