MARSALA MUSHROOM PATE
Finely diced mushroom sauteed with roasted eggplant, sweet onion, garlic and Marsala wine. Served cold with French baguette slices, Marsala spicy brown mustard and sliced dill gherkin pickles.
Makes 2-1/4 cups
Preheat oven to 400 degrees
1 lb. (approx.) ripe eggplant, washed, pricked in several places with long 2-tined fork, baked on baking sheet in preheated 400 degree oven for approx. 1 hour or till tender throughout. Remove from oven, then when cool enough to handle, cut in half and scrape pulp from peel. Discard some of the large pockets of seeds if the eggplant is excessively seedy. Chop finely on board and set aside.
1 stick margarine (I used Fleishman’s unsalted, because it’s animal-free)
1 c. diced sweet onion, no larger than 1/4 inch square
salt
1-1/2 lbs. white, button mushrooms; slice, cube, then finely chop into tiny pieces (this will take a while to do it right)
2 t. garlic powder
1 t. onion powder
1 t. salt
1/4 t. paprika
1/4 t. black pepper
1/8 t. nutmeg
1/2 c. Marsala wine
1/4 spicy brown mustard or Poupon Dijon mustard
1 T. Marsala wine
sev. kosher dill gherkins, thinly sliced from tip to tip
1 narrow French baguette, warmed in oven, then sliced into 1/2 inch rounds (wrapped in foil produces a soft crust, unwrapped and put directly on the oven rack produces a hard crust
Roast eggplant as instructed.
In large skillet, over medium-low heat, melt margarine. Add onion, a little salt, then saute till translucent and wilted.
Add chopped mushroom followed by garlic powder, onion powder, salt, paprika, black pepper and nutmeg. Stir well to coat evenly, then saute, stirring fairly often till all liquid has evaporated from skillet.
Add chopped roasted eggplant and stir to evenly distribute.
Add Marsala wine, stir well, then continue to saute till all liquid again evaporates and mixture clings together in a ball when scraped from bottom of skillet.
Mash mushroom mixture in skillet till pulpy. Transfer to serving bowl and refrigerate till cold. Before serving adjust for salt if needed.
Set pate on platter.
Combine spicy brown mustard and Marsala wine in bowl and stir till smooth.
Place a small ramekin of mustard at one end of pate and a ramekin of sliced gherkins at the opposite end. Pile baguette slices on the sides of the platter.
Make 2 pickle fans. Thinly slice a pickle from end to almost the opposite end, stopping just before the knife separates the slice from the pickle. Make about 4 identical cuts, then fan out the pickle. Push one down into the pate on one side where the pate meets the bowl. Do the same with a second pickle fan on the opposite side. Serve immediately.
Notes: This pate can be served hot, at room temperature or cold. I prefer to make it ahead and serve it cold. But it’s great all ways.
The success of this pate depends on how tiny you chop the mushrooms, and that you wait long enough till the mushroom forms a ball before mashing and chilling.
CHEF DAVIES-TIGHT™ 