Happy New Year! After a long relaxing Christmas break I’m back with my first post in almost a month – and of course I wanted to start the year sharing by an extra nutritious recipe.
It’s always a huge bonus when an ingredient you love to feast on is also packed with health benefits. Mushrooms for me are one of those foods. I’ve always enjoyed the taste of mushrooms but it was only in writing up a fairly recent post for mushroom meatballs that I came to appreciate their unique health benefits. Since then I’ve been making a conscious effort to get more mushrooms into my diet – hence this mushroom pâté.
As well as high doses of B vitamins, potassium and Vitamin E mushrooms also contain selenium. In the fruit and vegetable world the mineral selenium can only be found in mushrooms and spinach – it’s an anti-oxidant that means mushrooms have anti-aging properties. The nutritional benefits don’t end there – mushrooms are said to be the only vegan source of vitamin D, a vitamin associated more commonly with the sun that’s protective against health conditions including cancer.
Mushroom Pâté (vegetarian)
Perhaps your health goals for 2017 include eating less meat, boosting your vitamin D intake or preparing more meals from scratch. If so then this mushroom pâté could be a winner for you. It’s delicious, nutritious, and best of all takes only a few minutes to whip up with a few simple ingredients. The added bonus is that it keeps in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Ingredients (makes 4 generous portions like the ones you see here)
- 200g quark (or cottage cheese)
- 250g fresh mushrooms, finely sliced
- 1 tbsp dried porcini mushrooms, chopped
- 1 clove garlic, sliced
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 50g butter
Method
- Soak the porcini mushrooms in 2 tbsp boiling water and put to one side.
- Melt the butter in a saucepan, then add the fresh mushrooms, thyme & garlic.
- Cook the mushrooms on a medium heat for 10 minutes or until they are soft.
- Add the porcini mushrooms and their soaking juices and turn off the heat.
- Stir through the quark (or cottage cheese) and allow to cool for a few minutes.
- Blend the mixture with a hand blender into a smooth consistency.
- Transfer to single serving bowls and transfer to the fridge for an hour or so to set.
This pâté is going to be a regular on my 2017 weeknight rotation. If you’re a mushroom fan then I’d encourage you to give it a go!
You may also like:
- Artichoke & spinach dip
- Blue cheese & pumpkin dip (GF)
- Ricotta – salted & whipped into a citrus dip
- Spinach & feta cheese dip
- Sweet potato hummus (GF)
Feast Wisely 
I love mushrooms but didn’t really know about their nutritious benefits.
Thanks for sharing this recipe! I assume a recipe for mushroom soup would be very similar ingredient wise.
Glad you like the recipe and yes mushrooms are so good for you! I’ve never made mushroom soup but I imagine you’d replace the cottage cheese with stock 😄
Welcome back Laura! Your pâtê looks delicious! 🙂
Thanks Linda!
This looks amazing. I’m a huge mushroom fan, myself! Really love your blog and am excited to be following now. I wanted to reach out and invite you to take a look at my new blog: http://christinanifong.com If you like what you see, please sign up for my weekly email newsletter in the sign up box you’ll find here: http://christinanifong.com/category/blog/ Thanks for taking a look!
Thanks Christina – I’ll be sure to check out your blog as well 😄
Thanks, Laura. Hope you like it!
Laura,
I love mushrooms and this pate looks delicious! I did not know the vitamin D benefit of mushrooms. This is such a great share! I am going to make the pate soon- love all teh flavors in it!
Thanks Sandhya – I’m so glad you like it and yes mushrooms are such a surprise when it comes to vitamin D – a good way to get a boost without needing the sun!
Welcome back Laura – nice to take a break once in a while isn’t it?! The mushroom pate looks wonderful 🙂 🙂
Yes Linda – the break was lovely and it was nice to switch off all things digital for a couple of weeks!
I know! I’ve been trying to be ‘offline’ more since the days are too quick and I need to get stuff done and be with my family! 😘
Ahhh! This looks delicious! I love mushrooms, but never had them in pate form. This is a must try!
Thanks Jhuls and yes mushrooms work really well as pate and it’s so good for you too. Let me know how it goes if you give it a try!
Mushrooms are essential and I love them with pretty much anything and this pate sounds great 🙂
Thanks Petra! Yes this pate is great and the porcini mushrooms make all the difference too!
They have a great flavor! 🙂
Oh but does this sound good. I love mushrooms and they have a lot of anti inflammatory agents, too!
I LOVE mushrooms. Definitely a keeper!
Thanks – glad you like the recipe!
This sounds lovely. What a wonderful idea of making pate with mushrooms. I love pork pate, so I can’t wait to try this – yum!
Thanks Lily – and mushrooms are so good for you too!
Oh my god – I love you! Thank you for this! I’m a mushroom fanatic!!!
My pleasure – glad you like the recipe – it’s a sure fire winner for mushroom fans 🍄
Definitely!!!
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