I found myself with a bit of a red pepper glut the other day, having done my weekly shopping and coming home to find that I already had a few peppers in the fridge. So I decided to do something that I had been thinking about for a while; make a pâté. And the result was very pleasant, a light and fluffy pâté that works well both as an accompaniment to a salad and on sandwiches.
Makes 2 small pâtés
2 large red peppers
10 pitted green olives
1 mild red chilli (or adjust according to taste)
1 tablespoon fresh thyme
1 tablespoon fresh basil
150g cream cheese
salt and pepper to taste
1 egg
Pre-heat your oven to 200oC, and grease 2 small ovenproof ramekins, about 10cm diameter and 10cm deep.
Roast and skin your peppers, and remove the seeds. Place them in a blender, and add the pitted olives, chilli and herbs. Blend until you have a smooth mixture. Add the cream cheese, and again blend until the mixture is smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Whisk the egg, and carefully add this to the other ingredients. Pour the mixture into the ramekins, cover them with foil, and place these in a bain-marie. Place in the oven and leave for about an hour, until the pâtés have risen and are cooked.
Ooh, that sounds exciting - I'll have to try that. I've tried to recreate that sort of mousse-y paté before, but not realised that the end stage was "add egg and bake" as the similarly-textured smoked mackerel paté that I make isn't baked.
ReplyDeleteNow, next time the market has a good deal on peppers :)