Graffiti takes the personal public. For instance, at my neighborhood pub, patrons scrawl their darkest desires on the wall. Recently, while poking through fish and chips, I glanced across the room to learn that “Frank loves Mary” and that “Richard needs a pate.”
Which surprised me. I have never felt, mid-fish-and-chips, a need for pate so gripping that I had to uncap a Sharpie and scratch my craving into the wall. In my experience, pate is often liver. And often terrible. But Richard must have a line on the good stuff.
Which got me wondering if I could too.
I dispensed with liver. And couldn’t force myself to face forcemeat. I turned my attention instead to the mushroom, which harbors deep, dark secrets best unlocked with sherry and cream and patience. Wild mushroom pate might inspire wall poetry.
I sliced and soaked and sauteed. I mixed and spiced and rested. I sliced a sliver, spread it across a cracker and crunched into deep, dark and delicious.
Just as I was looking for a Sharpie, I remembered that to qualify as pate, the savory loaf must be baked under pastry (pate means pie, more or less). Technically I’d turned out a terrine.
Maybe, I thought, walking to the pub, I hadn’t done right by Richard. As it turns out, I hadn’t understood him at all. The graffito’s last word started with a D, not a P.
Richard, it seems, needs a date. If he gets one, I hope he orders the terrine.
Mushroom pate
Prep: 80 minutes
Bake: 45 minutes
Chill: 6 hours
Makes: 20 hors d’oeuvres
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1 ounce dried porcini mushrooms
1 1/2 cups chicken broth, heated
1/2 stick (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter
4 shallots, sliced
2 cloves garlic, sliced
2 tablespoons dry sherry
3/4 pound mushrooms (mix of shiitake, oyster and white), stems discarded, caps thinly sliced (3 cups)
1/2 cup whipping cream
2 eggs
1/4 cup toasted, finely ground walnuts
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme
1/3 cup fine fresh bread crumbs
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 Soak: Pour hot broth over porcini in a bowl. Let soften, 30 minutes. Squeeze mushrooms, letting juice drip into bowl. Rinse, chop and set aside in a large bowl.
2 Strain: Line a sieve with a coffee filter; set over a small saucepan. Pour mushroom-soaking liquid through; discard grit. Heat to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook until liquid is reduced to 1/4 cup, 10 minutes. Pour over porcini.
3 Sizzle: Heat 2 tablespoons butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add shallots and garlic; cook soft, 6 minutes. Add sherry; cook, stirring, 1 minute. Scrape into blender. Heat remaining butter in the same skillet over medium-high heat. Add sliced mushrooms. Cook, stirring, until wilted, 2 minutes. Scrape half the sauteed mushrooms into the blender, and the other half into the porcini mixture.
4 Blend: Add cream, eggs and walnuts to blender; swirl smooth. Pour into porcini mixture. Stir in parsley, thyme, bread crumbs, lemon juice, salt, pepper.
5 Bake: Pour mixture into a loaf pan (buttered, lined with parchment and buttered again). Cover with foil. Set in a larger baking pan; slide into a 350-degree oven. Pour in hot water to rise halfway up sides of loaf pan. Bake until outer edges are set but center remains soft, 45 minutes. Cool. Chill 6 hours. Bring pate to room temperature before unmolding; serve with garlic toast or crackers.
Provenance: Adapted from Gourmet.