Oh my goodness, this paté is so good! I cannot even express just how in love with it I am. Amazing! I have always loved paté, it's delicious. Even before I was trying to cut down my meat intake, I basically never bought it because I knew I wouldn't be able to control myself and would end up eating way too much of it way too fast. And then I stumbled across this lentil-walnut paté recipe. And it sounded fabulous. So, of course, I had to try it. And it came out beautifully.

To be clear, it's unlikely that anyone would mistake this for meat-based pat&eactue;. The flavour and texture are both a bit different. I think you could get the texture a bit closer by either cooking it down a bit after blending or using a food processor or some other appliance that doesn't require quite so much water to get it smooth. It's still not going to be quite the same though. And while the flavour is different, it's in the right ballpark. It definitely scratches to paté itch for me. It's full of herb-y, salty, umami-y goodness. It tastes like paté, it just doesn't taste like meat. I am extremely happy with this recipe. And TF actually likes it better than regular meat-based paté!

Vegetarian Paté

Slightly adapted from Beauty Food Blog

Ingredients

• 1 c. chopped walnuts
• 3 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 small red onion, quartered and sliced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp. brown sugar¹
• 2 bay leaves
• ~100g shiitake mushrooms, trimmed and sliced
• 1 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
• 1 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
• 1 Tbsp. dark soy sauce
• 1 tsp. dried rosemary
• 8 large fresh sage leaves, roughly chopped
• 1 Tbsp. fresh thyme
• 1-2 Tbsp. miso paste²
• 1 1/2 c. cooked brown lentils³
• 1/8-1/4 tsp. black peppercorns, ground

Directions

1. Toast walnuts at 180°C (350°F) for 8-10 minutes, checking halfway through to see if they need to be turned.
2. Meanwhile, heat oil over medium heat.
3. Add onion, garlic, sugar, and bay leaves and cook for 4-5 minutes.
4. Add mushrooms and cook for another 3-4 minutes.
5. Add balsamic vinegar, cider vinegar, soy sauce, rosemary, sage, and thyme and cook for another 2-3 minutes.
6. Add lemtils and miso paste and stir to combine.
7. Stir in toasted walnuts and remove bay leaves.
8. Transfer to blender or food processor and blend until smooth, adding water as necessary to achieve desired consistency. (I needed to add ~1/2 c. water before my blender was able to get it smooth. Food processors will likely need much less.)
9. Season to taste with black pepper.
10. Serve with cheese and crackers and/or bread. (Or just eat it with a spoon. Seriously, so good!)

---

¹ This was listed as a vegan recipe. And it can be vegan. Just be very careful with the sugar you use. Most brown sugars are just white sugar with molasses added. And many white sugars use bone char in their production. You may also want to double check the vinegars, soy sauce, and miso paste to make sure they're vegan too. I'm not vegan, so I'm not aware of all the potential problem ingredients. I just mention it in case you're either vegan or cooking for someone who is. Cooking vegan food can be tricky since it's not always obvious which ingredients use animal products somewhere along the line and which don't. There are a lot of things that seem like they should be safe for a vegan diet since they don't directly involve animals, but could actually be a no-go due to animal products getting used somewhere else along the line. So, uh... caveat emptor and all that jazz. ^Back
2 Whoops! So I just realized that the recipe called for 2 tsp. of miso paste, not 2 Tbsp. I really like how mine came out though, so maybe try it with 1 Tbsp. to start and add more to taste. (I used white miso for mine.) ^Back
3 I cooked my lentils from dried in a nice, herby mushroom stock with a bunch of extra garlic, onion, paprika, bay leaves, and pepper added to the pot. The recipe above is written for unseasoned lentils. If you're using seasoned lentils, you may want to halve all the herbs and reduce the garlic to 2 cloves (which is what I did when preparing mine). ^Back