Monday, June 14, 2010

The Daring Cooks June, 2010 Challenge: Pâtés and Bread

Our hostesses this month, Evelyne of Cheap Ethnic Eatz, and Valerie of a The Chocolate Bunny, chose delicious pate with freshly baked bread as their June Daring Cook’s challenge! They’ve provided us with 4 different pate recipes to choose from and are allowing us to go wild with our homemade bread choice.
I had so much fun with this month's challenge! Probably because it didn't require long hours over the hot kitchen stove. And also because the possibilities of "playing" around with flavors was endless. We were required to make only one of the pate recipes they provided and one bread recipe of our choice, I chose to make the Tri-Color Vegetable Pate. I had a bit of a problem with this one when I unmolded it, I don't know if the red pepper layer was too runny because I didn't drain the feta cheese or the white bean layer was too thick and therefore heavy, on hindsight, I should have unmolded it with the white layer under but aside from that, this was really delicious! For my next pate I made Smoked Fish or Tinapa as we call it here in the Philippines. The smoky flavor of the fish complemented the creaminess of the cream cheese. And I didn't have any problem unmolding it at all. This was the easiest to make, requiring no time over the stove at all.
For the last one, I chose to make a country pate adapted from a recipe in Epicurious. This one also had minimal stove-top time. But I had to bake it in the oven for 2 hours plus 2 hours cooling time and finally about 10 hours refrigeration before I unmolded it. I will be posting the recipe for this separately.
Tricolor Vegetable Pâté
Yields one 25 by 12,5 cm (10 by 5 inch) terrine or loaf pan

Line your pan with plastic wrap, overlapping sides.
White Bean Layer
2 x 15-ounce / 900 ml cans cannellini (white kidney beans), rinsed, drained thoroughly
1 tbsp / 15 ml fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp / 15 ml olive oil
1 tbsp / 15 ml minced fresh oregano or 1 teaspoon dried
2 garlic cloves, pressed

Mash beans in large bowl. Add lemon juice, olive oil, oregano and garlic and blend until smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Spread bean mixture evenly on bottom of prepared pan.
Red Pepper Layer
7-ounce / 210 ml jar roasted red bell peppers, drained, chopped
3/4 cup / 180 ml crumbled feta cheese (about 4 ounces)

Combine peppers and feta in processor and blend until smooth. Spread pepper mixture evenly over bean layer in prepared dish.

Pesto Layer

2 garlic cloves
1 cup / 240 ml fresh basil leaves
1 cup / 240 ml fresh Italian parsley leaves
1/4 cup / 60 ml toasted pine nuts
3 tbsp / 45 ml olive oil
1/2 cup / 120 ml low-fat ricotta cheese

Mince garlic in processor. Add basil, parsley and pine nuts and mince. With machine running, gradually add oil through feed tube and process until smooth. Mix in ricotta. Spread pesto evenly over red pepper layer. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
To unmold, invert pâté onto serving platter. Peel off plastic wrap from pâté


Tinapa Pate
1 piece Tinapa (Smoked Fish), flaked
225 grams Cream Cheese, softened
pinch Cayenne Pepper Black Pepper, freshly cracked
Spring Onion, green part, chopped into rings

Combine all ingredients in blender and puree until smooth. Line ramekin with plastic wrap and carefully pour in the mixture. Wrap plastic over the ramekin and refrigerate overnight. Remove plastic and invert ramekin on a plate. Unmold and unwrap plastic. Garnish with spring onions.


Thank you Evelyne and Valerie for this challenge!

30 comments:

Unknown said...

Your pates are beautiful. Great job on this challenge! I love the idea of your second one. Your bread was gorgeous as well! Congratulations!

Jo said...

Great job on your challenge and both pates look absolutely delicious. I do so think that smoked fish in a pate taste so good.

Audax said...

Wonderful pâtés you made on this challenge. I really like the last one a lot but they all look fabulous. And the breads are so tasty looking. Cheers from Audax in Sydney Australia.

julie said...

Beautiful pates! It all looks delicious! Way to go on trying three. you really got into the spirit of the challenge. Nice work!

shelley c. said...

Wow - all three look fantastic! Seriously amazing job on this month's challenge.

Ruth H. said...

Your tricolor pate looks beautiful! And that bead makes me want to have a big slice right about now! Great job on the challenge!!

blepharisma said...

The smoked fish one sounds like a great idea for the summer - no heating up the stove required!

barb said...

They look beautiful, and the smoked fish/cream cheese sounds like an amazing combo!

Oggi said...

The Tinapa Pate sounds exceptional! No cooking required, that's my kind of pate.:D

Valérie said...

Wow, you went all out! Smoked fish pâté sounds delicious! And yes, we were going for a June-appropriate challenge... Great job on this challenge, and thanks for cooking with us!

Anonymous said...

Wow, three pates! They all look wonderful; I'm really intrigued by the smoked fish pate - I would definitely like to give that a try sometime. Great job!

Mary said...

Everything looks wonderful! I had the same problem with the red pepper layer on mine. It was still good, though! the smoked fish one sounds delicious--I'd like to try that some time.

Suz said...

Your photos are lovely. Really appetising - they just make me want to dig in! Mm, I adore creamy smoked fish pâté. I could eat it by the bowlful.

Your bread is beautiful. I'm so impressed!

Suz said...

Oops, I was messing around with logging in there & I think I might have posted a blank comment. (It's late - that's my excuse!) I'm sorry if I have. Here's what I meant to say:

Your photos are lovely. Really appetising - they just make me want to dig in! Mm, I adore creamy smoked fish pâté. I could eat it by the bowlful.

Your bread is beautiful. I'm so impressed!

Kelly said...

Mmm the Tinapa Pate sounds wonderful.

Kelly said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Monkeyshines in the Kitchen said...

Beautiful job on the pates and the bread too! I wish we could visit for a taste!!

Anonymous said...

I am curious what kind of smoked fish you used. It looks like some kind of white fish.

All your versions sound and look delicious.

AJ said...

Pate looks excellent!!

FabFrugalFood said...

LOve how you separated the layers - beautiful presentation!

Evelyne CulturEatz said...

I had a similar problem with the tri-color one, a little runny still. But taste good still. Thank for participating in our challenge.

Esther said...

lovely set of pates!

Kel said...

Great job on the challenge!! Your fish pate looks wonderful!

Angelica said...

Great job incorporating Philipino cuisine in the pate! I wish i could have a taste, smoked fish sounds verryy ingriguing. Great job on the challenge!

TaGa_Luto said...

OMGoodness..you sure had fun w/ this challenge=;) All the pates you made looks del1cious! I'm interested w/ the smoked fish..what kind of tinapa did you use? I have some smoked bangus in the fridge and i'm thinking of "stealing" your idea and use the bangus.=;)

chef_d said...

Thank you for your kind words everyone! I used the store-bought tinapa which is hasa-hasa or short bodied mackerel :)

Anonymous said...

You really kicked booty with three beautiful pates! When I saw your photo of the pate with bread in the DK forum, I was wowed! BTW, I think everyone's red pepper layer oozed once at room temp, but it was so yummy, didn't make a difference :)

Barbara Bakes said...

I'm so impressed with all your different pates. It looks like you had so much fun with this challenge.

Lori said...

Wow that fish pate sounds really good. I love smoked fish.

nikki said...

Your pates are beautifully done!