Green Pea Pate
Pates are so easy to make. And they are all generally variations of the same theme.
On the Demuth’s course we made a broad bean pate or dip. Here on the boat we did not have broad beans but we did have green peas. Nor here in France could we not get fresh mint at the moment, so used dried mint instead.
Thanks to Demuth’s for the inspiration – but here is my recipe for the green pea pate –
Ingredients:
300 grms frozen peas
1 large or 2 small cloves garlic, chopped
1 to 2 t lemon juice
1 ½ T pumpkin seeds, lightly toasted
2 t olive oil
1 to 2 t dried mint
Pinch of salt
Method:
1 Lightly roast the pumpkin seeds, or toast in a fry pan. Then crush in a pestle and mortar
2 Get a pot of water on the boil and blanch the peas till just tender. Only a couple of minutes
3 Put the peas and garlic in a bowl with about 2/3 of each of the other ingredients.
4 Using a stick blender, grind to the texture you want.
5 Start tasting and add the rest of the ingredients as you feel you need. Add even more of any of them if you need.
6 Once you have reached the desired texture and taste, transfer to a bowl and garnish with fresh mint if you have, or maybe some pumpkin seed.
We served this with the buckwheat flatbreads from the last post.
Notes:
We have learned so much both on the Demuth’s course and on the Rouxbe on line course.
But the one common theme is that it is all about flavour building, and tasting as you go!
Other than for baking and using flours and raising agents, where things do need to be exact, recipes can often be treated as guidelines rather than being cast in stone.
With that in mind –
1 If you use a high-speed blender you can get a smoother result, but it depends on what you want – a pate or a dip.
2 If you reach the texture you want, but still not quite the taste, then put the mixture in a bowl and use a spatula to fold in the other flavour ingredients.
3 Instead of bringing a pot of water to the boil, you can just boil a kettle and pour boiling water over the peas and let stand for a few minutes. Will achieve the same result.
4 I would have preferred to use fresh mint.
5 The end result was good, but I think using broad beans would give a more robust flavour.
But either way – bon apetit!
Everyone has different objectives, but if you want to improve your vegan cooking skills I can heartily recommend the Rouxbe on-line courses, or make the trip to UK and do one of the Demuth’s hands on courses. You will not be disappointed.
