Mushroom Pate

It isn't very pretty, but it sure is delicious.

If I were serving this to company, I'd whip heavy cream and fold it into the cooled mixture to make more of a mousse, then cover it in the dish with a thin layer of melted, clarified butter. It still wouldn't be attractive, but your guests would be impressed with the presentation.
Seeing how it was just us, I skipped the fancy-stuff and just make the pate. I did garnish it with parsley-look out all you food stylists, I've got parsley! It will also have a longer shelf-life without the cream, and we plan to eat this all weekend.


You Will Need:
2 lbs. mushrooms, trimmed and chopped small
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
About 10 fresh sage leaves, roughly chopped
1 teaspoon dried thyme
4 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons olive oil
A generous splash of Port
Salt and Pepper

In a large frying pan, melt the butter and oil over low heat and cook the onions until they soften a bit. Add the mushrooms, herbs, garlic, and salt and pepper. Cook slowly until mushrooms give off their liquid and reduce. Add a splash of Port, crank up the heat and cook until the liquid burns off (a couple minutes should do it, but keep stirring). Remove from heat to cool.

Grind coarsely in a food processor (I used the blender and it worked fine, but don't liquify it)and pack neatly into an attractive bowl to distract from the ugly colour. Serve chilled.