Mushroom Dip Appetizer
The first pate I made was a meticulously followed authentic French recipe, which we then served with great flourish and anticipation to our friends. Well, the pate was just perfect, for a pate. The trouble was our friends were really all about meat and potatoes, with no flourishes, thank you. What follows is an adaptation of a mushroom pate recipe that in real life is not a pate, but a dip. At first this was a little troubling to me, but it does taste really good and will probably have a wider audience. Of course, drink with a glass of Mafalda, and it is so good you won't really notice what people say. As a nice bonus, my winemaker husband did find it is great as a salad dressing (see below).
1/2 pound mushrooms, buttons ok, a blend of deeper flavored like porcini up to you
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/2 red onion or 2-3 shallots, chopped fine
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup Italian flat leaf parsley, minced
2 T brandy, a really good one
3 ounces cream cheese
2 T brandy, a really good one
Salt
Buttermilk
Chop the mushrooms into rather small chunks, but not to a much.
Sauté with the onion and garlic over medium high heat about 10
minutes until no moisture remains and all are cooked through. Add
parsley and brandy, then salt to taste. Cool.
Soften the cream cheese; fold the cooled mushroom mixture in,
return to refrigerator at least 2 hours, preferably overnight. Serve on
baguette or ...