‘Sea pâté’

In June there are a lot of festivities in Portugal, across the country, to celebrate different saints: St Antonio, St Pedro, St João… with loads of parades, music, etc. During these parties the street food is a big part of it too and sardines are a big hit. As you can imagine, to recreate a vegan sardine is hard, to say the least. However, I created a pâté that has a really nice ‘sea’ taste and can be eaten with bread and a nice traditional pepper salad, for example. It is lush!

Time: 40 minutes + 1h in the fridge

Type: snack

Difficulty: 2 pans

Serves: a few servings (about 6-8)

What you need:

for the pâté: 200g sliced mushrooms, 2 tbsp olive oil, 1 small onion chopped, 2 garlic cloves minced, 150g mashed tofu; 1/3 cup walnuts, 1 tbsp tomato puree, 1 tbsp sliced black olives, 1 nori sheet, shredded, sea salt and pepper to taste

for the pepper salad: 1/2 red pepper, 1/2 green pepper, 1/2 small onion, sliced, salt, vinegar and olive oil

1 courgette sliced lengthwise

bread and olives to serve

Utensils:

1 small frying pan;

food processor;

knife and chopping board;

baking tray;

bowl;

Directions:

Place both halves of pepper in a baking tray and cook in a heated oven for about 30 minutes, turning to the other side half way (the skin should get a little black in places);

Meanwhile, prep all the veggies for the pâté;

In a frying pan, heat olive oil and fry the onion, garlic and mushrooms for about 5 minutes till they become soft;

Place all the ingredients in a food processor, including fried mushrooms and onions; Pulse in high speed till it turns into a smooth puree (add a little water or unsweetened soya milk if too dry);

Take it to the fridge for about 1h before serving;

For the salad: once peppers are cooked and cooled, peel the skin (it should come off easily) and cut into thin slices; add sliced onion and season with a little salt, olive oil and vinegar;

To serve the pâté, I sliced a courgette lengthwise (3 or 4 thin slices), grilled it for a couple of minutes and cut it into a ‘sardine’ shape (see the picture above and below); I then placed it in a bread and put pâté on top of it, but this is optional 🙂

Bellow is a little collage of some of the steps for guidance.