Our hostesses this month, Evelyne of Cheap Ethnic Eatz, and Valerie of a The Chocolate Bunny, chose delicious pate with freshly baked bread as their June Daring Cook’s challenge! They’ve provided us with 4 different pate recipes to choose from and are allowing us to go wild with our homemade bread choice.
My first thought when I saw the challenge was I don’t like pâté. But in all honesty, I haven’t eaten much pâté. The only time I remember eating it was on a cruise ship. I’m sure there probably is pâté that I would enjoy, although I’d have to get past the fact that I think it sort of looks like cat food. But I’m a Daring Cook, so I took a second look at the challenge and luckily, Evelyne and Valerie had posted a recipe for a vegetarian pâté, Tricolor Vegetable Pâté, which sounded flavorful and delicious.
My daughter and son-in-law joined us for dinner and I served the pâté and baguettes as an appetizer. Since the recipe makes way more pâté than we could eat, I also took half of it to my sweet neighbor who was having her kids and grandkids over for dinner. We all really enjoyed it. My neighbor said the top bean layer and the bottom pesto layer were their favorite flavors, but all three layers blended together really well. I don’t like red peppers, so I substituted sun dried tomatoes in the middle layer. This is definitely something I’d consider making again for a party.
For the bread, we could choose any recipe we wanted to use. I decided to make baguettes from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, a great cookbook that I have posted about before. The technique helps make making crusty, chewy artisan bread a snap. I made the dough the night before and shaped and baked the loaves the next morning. My daughter hadn’t had this bread before and she said, “Mom, this bread is so good. Where did you buy it.” Awwwww! It really does taste like a wonderful bakery bread.
Here’s a video with the basic dough recipe and directions on how to make the bread. It can be a bit frustrating the first time working with the wet dough, especially if you don’t flour your hands well. But once you get the hang of it, it’s a very easy process. In our dry climate, I use ½ cup less flour than they use in the video.
There’s my version of the pâté with the slight changes that I made.
Daring Cooks Tricolor Vegetable Pâté
Ingredients
White Bean Layer:
- 1 x 15-ounce / 900 ml cans cannellini white kidney beans, rinsed, drained thoroughly
- 1 tbsp / 15 ml fresh lemon juice
- 1 tbsp / 15 ml olive oil
- 1 tbsp / 15 ml minced fresh oregano or 1 teaspoon dried
- 2 garlic cloves pressed
Sun Dried Tomato Layer:
- 7- ounce / 210 ml jar sun dried tomatoes drained, chopped
- ¾ cup / 180 ml crumbled feta cheese about 4 ounces
Pesto Layer:
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 cup / 240 ml fresh basil leaves
- 1 cup / 240 ml fresh Italian parsley leaves
- ¼ cup / 60 ml toasted pine nuts
- 2 tbsp / 45 ml olive oil
- ½ cup / 120 ml low-fat ricotta cheese
Instructions
- Line your pan with plastic wrap, overlapping sides.
White Bean Layer:
- Mash beans in large bowl. Add lemon juice, olive oil, oregano and garlic and blend until smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Spread bean mixture evenly on bottom of prepared pan.
Sun Dried Tomato Layer:
- Combine tomatoes and feta in processor and blend until smooth.
- Spread pepper mixture evenly over bean layer in prepared dish.
Pesto Layer:
- Mince garlic in processor. Add basil, parsley and pine nuts and mince.
- With machine running, gradually add oil through feed tube and process until smooth. Mix in ricotta. Spread pesto evenly over red pepper layer.
- Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
- To unmold, invert pâté onto serving platter. Peel off plastic wrap from pâté. Garnish with herb sprigs and serve with sourdough bread slices.
[donotprint]A big thank you to everyone who entered my CSN Stores Giveaway. The winner is……
Pink Little Cake who said her dream bed would be on a beach. Mine too! CONGRATULATIONS! Have fun shopping.[/donotprint]
pigpigscorner
the pate looks so beautiful with the different layers of colours! and your bread looks perfect!
chef_d
Beautiful pate and the bread looks perfect! Great job!
Bunnee
Your bread definitely looks the way I wanted mine to look. I'm going to have to give that recipe a try. And your pate' looks so colorful. I'm sure both the families enjoyed your efforts.
Chetana Suvarna Ganatra
Awww ur baguettes look soo good…
Never tried pate…only for de reason tat it looks so un-appetizing…but think can experiment wit tis vege version… looks good.
Juliana
Wow, what a nice combination of flavor in this pate, and the colors are so pretty 🙂
FabFrugalFood
I'm impressed that you went for the veggie recipe, too. You have a very lucky neighbor!
Donna
Jenni
Lovely Pate! That's a great idea about substituting the red peppers for sun dried tomatoes. I bet it tasted great! And I am glad that you like the bread book, I keep eyeing it at the bookstore, I just might have to pick it up one day!
Lo & Go
Sounds interesting! Never done a formed pate with three pretty layers before! That pesto layer sounds delicious all on its own!
Lori
I did the same pate. Yum.
And the baguettes look so good. I wish I had some homemade bread right now.
Cathy
I know I would like this pate, especially when served with homemade bread. I do love a good chicken liver pate, but the vegetable version is so much healthier. Good post, Barbara.
Asha @ FSK
wow! your pate looks soo good and colorful! LOL anything but cat food ;-))
btw your bread looks soo perfect! Do you score it before or after proofing?
Memória
Barbara, I love your new profile pic below!!! ¡Se ve tan profesional!
I'm not a fan of pâté either for the same reason you mentioned. It looks like cat food. I also don't like the idea of eating liver of any kind. I was going to make another variation of Pâté like you did, but I decided against it.
¡El pan se ve riquísimo! Es perfecto.
Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella
That looks so delicious mum! 🙂 I have to admit I love pate (a bit too much hehe) and rillettes and all of those other yummy but fattening things! And I think I would go crazy for this too! 🙂 xxx
Bonnie
I'm with you…not a meat pate lover. Maybe when I have a few less teeth I'll like it more. However, your veggie pate definitely looks appetizing. The colors are so pretty. AND THAT BREAD!!! It is beautiful and I know that it would taste good with anything (even cat food) on it.
Cool Lassi(e)
Awesome tricolor pate and it looks fabulous! I love it! Congrats to the winner of CSN giveaway.
Bridgett
What a lovely presentation and the perfect pate for a dinner party. Truly stunning and I can just imagine how delicious. I'm so impressed!
Nisrine@Dinners & Dreams
What a wonderful pate-colorful, beautiful and full of goodness. Yum!
cindy
I think I just might enjoy pate. So many fun flavors, it has to be yummy! I need to order the Artisan bread cookbooks–sounds fun, and yummy. Fresh bread is so good. Love your blog.
Judy
Your pate looks great! I did the same thing — made my baguette from ABin5. The basic recipe has the best flavor, and, frankly, I really don't think anyone could tell the difference between that bread and one that's ten times more work.
Mags
I don't think I've ever had pate, but admit that it does sound interesting.
Your bread looks fantastic. You did a great job!