When it come's to having shop bought dips at parties, the selection for vegans is usually limited, there's usually hummus (and don't get me wrong, I love hummus!), but sometimes you just want something else. So, using 3 flavours of the Violife Creamy I have created a trio of pâtés so us vegans have something to eat with the bread & crackers at parties - watch out though, they're so good, they won't be around long! The best thing about these 3 pâtés is how simple they are, they use minimal ingredients and 2/3 of them don't require any cooking at all!
The first pâté I made is a mushroom pâté - using a variety of mushrooms, an onion and the violife herb creamy. I've really missed mushroom pâté, Caldron used to do a vegetarian one which I loved and then when I turned vegan, all the mushroom pâtés contain some sort of milk product to bulk it out. This homemade version is really simple, you fry the onion & mushrooms, wait for them to cool and stir through the cream cheese. This cheese is really delicious too - it works so well with the earthy mushrooms and the herb flavours definitely come through, I don't want to pick a favourite but this flavour would definitely be high up the list if I were to rank the cheeses.
The next recipe is a spicy carrot Pâté made up of grated carrot, blended chickpeas, lemon juice and the Violife hot peppers creamy - the cheese itself is really spicy (as the name indicates), but mixing it with these ingredients tones it down enough for it to work well as a dip. I don't think I'm ever going to come across a flavour of violife that I don't like so it's no surprise my review of this cheese is also positive, this cheese is really delicious. I feel that this particular flavour would be best served room temperature due to the spice or would also be absolutely amazing melted and served with some nachos as it has a really similar taste to the nacho cheese they serve at cinemas - so if you want a quick and easy nacho cheese - this one is the way to go!
The final pâté is a pea and leek Pâté, made of a mix of peas, leek and the Violife cucumber and dill creamy. This pâté has a really fresh taste to it, delivered by the cheese. The ingredients perfectly compliment the cheese, with the herby flavours still coming through. This flavour of Violife is very mild, yet extremely enjoyable and I feel could almost be used as a sour cream type component with a bowl of bean chili, it's very refreshing and cooling.
Vegan Pâté Trio with Violife | Yield: 3x1 cup servings of Pâté | Time: 5-30 mins
You'll need
- 3 ramekins
- 3 mixing bowls & forks
- food processor/ blender
- frying pan
- Chopping board
- Knife
- Wooden spoon/spatula
- Peeler & Grater
Ingredients & Method
Mushroom Pâté:
- 1 small white onion
- 300g/1 1/2 cups finely chopped mixed mushrooms (I used oyster, chestnut, enoki and eryngii)
- 1/2 pack (100g) Violife herbs creamy
- Pinch salt
- Splash oil
- Finely chop the onion and add to the frying pan with a splash of oil, fry on a medium heat whilst you chop the mushrooms. Chop the mushrooms, finely and add these to the pan with a pinch of salt - fry for 10 minutes on a medium heat. Then Transfer the mushrooms to a mixing bowl and allow to cool fully (this can be sped up by placing in the freezer).
- Once cool, add the herb cream cheese to the bowl and mash together with a fork until fully combined. Serve up in a ramekin.
Spicy Carrot Pâté:
- 1/2 cup cooked chickpeas
- 2 medium carrots
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1/2 pack (100g) Violife hot peppers creamy
- Pinch salt
- Pinch paprika
- Add the chickpeas to the food processor and blend until smooth, add to the mixing bowl. Peel and grate the carrots and add these to the bowl along with 1 tbsp lemon juice, the violife hot peppers and a pinch of salt, mix with a fork until combined. Then serve up in a ramekin with a sprinkling of paprika on top.
Pea & Leek Pâté:
- 1 cup peas defrosted
- 1/2 cup finely chopped leek (1 1/2 inch piece)
- 1/2 cup Violife cucumber and dill creamy
- Pinch salt
- Add the peas to the food processor and pulse so some chunky pieces remain, then transfer this to a bowl, add the finely chopped leek, Violife cucumber and dill and a pinch of salt and combine. Place in a ramekin and serve all the pâtés up with some bread or crackers and enjoy!
Cassidy xx
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