Chris Cornell ~ Ghosts
Danny Kaye & Jimmy Young ~ No Two People
Def Leppard ~ Animal
Guns & Roses ~ Paradise City
Enrique Iglesias ~ Love to See You Cry
Last night I cooked a meal for two good pals, J & S, a belated birthday celebration for S's birthday...turns out it was his 60th...sneaky one kept that quiet. I enjoy cooking for them and we take the opportunity to have a good catch up. S's birthday was actually back in April but due to the lurgy we weren't able to celebrate with him.
I usually cook us something spicy and almost always an Indian banquet...but this time I wanted to do something a little different. My Love suggested the Courgette Lattice Flan from A Vegan Taste of France...great idea. So with the main course sorted I arranged the menu around a French theme. I wanted a starter as I was planning on spoiling S last night. But nothing was really coming together so I made a random search online and this pate was the first recipe that came up. It was posted on an blog which seemed to be a dead blog now as no postings had been done for 18 months. The blog was Vivacious Vegan.
I love french lentils which are the main ingredient in this pate but I'm not the biggest 'smoked' fan. As I was cooking the onion and garlic mixture which is where the smoked paprika is added I was overwhelmed by the smokiness and I did worry that I wouldn't be able to eat it.
It was very easy to put together and the crostini take ten minutes in a hot oven. And as it's all served cold you could easily make this the day before to save you time on the day.
It's not the most attractive dish...but the flavour is amazing! Yes..I loved it..we all did and there was competely empty pots and plates. I'm looking forward to having the leftovers (that didn't fit in the pots!) for my lunch today. Thank you Vivacious Vegan...
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| Smokey French Lentil Pate |
(Recipe from Vivacious Vegan blog)
1 cup of french lentils (green lentils)
1 bayleaf
2 cups of water or veggie stock (I used stock ~R~)
1 onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 tsp dried thyme
2 tsp smoked paprika
1 tbsp dijon mustard
1 glass of red wine (70ml)
2 tbsp shoyu (I used tamari ~R~)
Salt and pepper to season
1 tsp olive oil
Olive to drizzle
Bring the lentils and bayleaf to a boil in the stock or water. Reduce to a simmer and cook the lentils with the lid on the pot until all the liquid is absorbed. (I needed to add a little more hot water to the pot as the lentils were still on the hard side...~R~)
Meanwhile, saute the onion and garlic until soft in the tsp of olive oil. Add the thyme, paprika, wine, mustard and shoyu and stir until most of the liquid is absorbed. Add the onion mixture to the cooked lentils and puree with a stick blender or food processor until very smooth. Season with the salt and pepper.
Serve the pate in a ramekin with a thin layer of olive oil drizzled over the top and lots of fancy crackers or crostini. Ooh lala!
NB: Crostini is simple to make, slice a baguette into small slices and then place on a baking sheets covered with parchment paper and bake in a preheated oven at 350'F/180'C/Gas Mark 4. For ten minutes and then leave to cool...you have crostini! lol.
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| Smokey French Lentil Pate with Crostini starter... |
~R~
