Oops...

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I could have sworn I posted earlier but it looks like either Blogger ate my post or I did something silly (probably the latter!)

I did my Daring Cooks challenge on time for once even, and here I am posting almost half a month late! Better late than never I guess!

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.


I chose to make the vegetable pate because I couldn't get a local source of pork liver in time for the challenge. I had most of what I needed on hand and it turned out delicious. I chose to make my standard basic loaf of bread from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day because I'm still severely lacking in kitchen space and it doesn't need room for kneading.

The basic vegetable pate recipe:

Tricolor Vegetable Pâté
Yields one 25 by 12,5 cm (10 by 5 inch) terrine or loaf pan

Line your pan with plastic wrap, overlapping sides.

White Bean Layer
2 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

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.

Red Pepper Layer
7-ounce / 210 ml jar roasted red bell peppers, drained, chopped
3/4 cup / 180 ml crumbled feta cheese (about 4 ounces)

Combine peppers and feta in processor and blend until smooth. Spread pepper mixture evenly over bean layer in prepared dish.

Pesto Layer
2 garlic cloves
1 cup / 240 ml fresh basil leaves
1 cup / 240 ml fresh Italian parsley leaves
1/4 cup / 60 ml toasted pine nuts
3 tbsp / 45 ml olive oil
1/2 cup / 120 ml low-fat ricotta cheese

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.



My notes: I halved the white bean layer - and forgot to halve the garlic (oh darn) and it turned out good, with lots of garlic bite. My red pepper layer was soupy in the food processor so I added half a can of black beans to give it some substance. Also turned out good.

The best though was the pesto layer. I used about half a cup of garlic scape "pesto" (garlic scapes run through the food processor with olive oil) and only a bit of basil, and a handful of plain pine nuts(not toasted, straight out of the bag). I didn't measure the ricotta but was probably closer to 3/4c. I loved this layer and sneaked a few spoonfuls right from the processor. Even my one-year-old loved it. But he loves most everything.

Anyhow, here's the pics:

Bread


And the pate: