Triple Mushroom Pâté

Due to waaay too much vino on Friday night, I am getting a late start on blogging about the food I served that evening.

We celebrated Jake's 36th birthday with 'A Fungi Feast for My Fun Guy.' 

First up: a triple mushroom pâté. I served this with raisin-rosemary crackers from Trader Joe's.

I started with a recipe from Gourmet magazine from 1997 and tweaked a bit to come up with this version. It's a pretty involved recipe, but it's well worth the effort.

1 1/2 C chicken stock
2 C chopped shitake mushroom
2 C chopped trumpet mushroom
2 C chopped crimini mushroom
1 stick butter
2 minced shallots
4 minced garlic cloves
1/4 cup wine
1 C organic heavy cream
4 large eggs

1/4 cup ground almond meal
1/4 C chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

2 t chopped fresh thyme
1/3 cup panko bread crumbs
1-1/2 T fresh lemon juice
2 t pink Himalaya salt
1/2 t freshly ground black pepper

Butter loaf pan, then line bottom and sides with parchment paper and butter paper.
Bring stock to a boil in a small saucepan. Remove pan from heat, add shitakes. Bring to a brisk simmer over moderate heat and simmer until reduced to about 1/4 cup, about 10 minutes.

Put a rack in middle of oven and preheat oven to 350°F. Heat 2 tablespoons butter in a large nonstick skillet over moderate heat until foam subsides. Add shallots and garlic and cook, stirring, until softened, about 6 minutes. Add wine and cook, stirring for 1 minute. Transfer mixture to a blender. Heat 2 more tablespoons butter in skillet over moderately high heat until foam subsides. Add one third of the remaining mushrooms and cook, stirring, for about 2 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and cook remaining mushrooms in 2 batches, adding 2 more tablespoons butter to skillet for each batch. Add 2 cups sautéed mushrooms to shallot mixture in blender, and add remaining mushrooms to shitake mixture.

Add cream, then eggs and almonds to blender and purée until mixture is very smooth, about 1 minute. Add purée to shitake mixture and stir in parsley, thyme, bread crumbs, lemon juice, salt, and pepper until well combined. Pour mixture into loaf pan and cover with foil.

Put loaf pan in a larger baking pan and add enough boiling water to reach halfway up sides of loaf pan. Bake until set 1/2 inch from edges, about 50 minutes (pâté will not be completely set in center). Remove loaf pan from baking pan and let cool to room temperature on a rack. Refrigerate pâté in loaf pan, covered, for at least 6 hours. Bring pâté to room temperature before adding topping. 

Topping

2 T butter

1 T olive oil

2 C canary oyster mushrooms
1/4 C fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves

1/8 t pink Himalaya salt
1/8 t freshly ground black pepper

Heat butter and oil in a large skillet over moderately high heat until foam subsides. Add mushrooms and cook, stirring, until mushrooms are tender and liquid they give off has evaporated, 6 to 8 minutes. Transfer to a heatproof bowl and let cool, then add parsley, salt, and pepper and toss to combine.

To unmold pâté, run a thin knife between paper and edges of loaf pan. Invert a large plate over loaf pan and invert pâté onto plate (peel off paper). Mound topping on pâté, and spread on toasts and/or crackers.