Richly flavoursome and healthy, this has to be one of my favourite plant based recipes. All the ingredients, minus one, are raw so there is absolutely no cooking involved. You’ll impress everyone with this intensely rich Mediterranean style pate. I don’t recall anyone being disappointed with it. It’s spreadable, easy to make, healthy, plant based and gluten free.
Unlike other pates it’s very versatile. It’s perfect as a starter for those special occasions spread on crackers but it can also be combined with other dishes to add flavour. It’s also a perfect snack and sandwich filler.
Not only is it rich in flavour and versatile it’s very nutritious. Full of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. In fact sun-dried tomatoes have something like 20% more lycopene, a powerful antioxidant, than fresh tomatoes. Made with oats and and whole natural almonds it’s a spread full of protein, vitamin E, magnesium and potassium.
Apart from the sun-dried tomatoes, what gives this spread its rich unique flavour, are the roasted red peppers and seasoning. I tend to buy the roasted red peppers in a jar. `Pimientos asados’ are very easy to find here in Spain but if you want to avoid adding any preservatives and additives to your pate roast a large red pepper (that weighs around 200 grams when fresh) in the oven. For an evenly baked pepper wrap in tin foil. Roast until tender, leave to cool then peel and deseed.
You’d think it would be easy for me to find Spanish sun-dried tomatoes but to my disappointment it isn’t so this summer I gave it go at sun drying my own. If you want to know how, check out my post on How to make sun-dried tomatoes the traditional way Other recipes you might also like Salmorejo, Romesco sauce
The seasoning for this spread can vary depending on taste. Omitting and changing one seasoning for another is a good way to find what works best for you. If you like it spicy add more hot paprika. You could even add a teaspoon of chilli oil.
You will need a blending machine and/or a hand held blender for this recipe and 1 sheet of vegetable paper.
Ingredients
160 grams Sun-dried tomatoes
100 grams Whole natural almonds
80 grams Oat flakes
100 grams Roasted red pepper, peeled and deseeded
1 garlic clove or 1 tsp of garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp hot or sweet paprika (or chilli flakes)
1/4 tsp grounded black pepper
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried thyme
5 tsp olive oil
pinch of salt
Instructions
1. Weigh the sun-dried tomatoes and leave them to soak in boiled water for at least one hour. Hydrating the tomatoes will give much better results to the taste and texture of your pate.
If roasting peppers wrap them in foil and roast until soft and tender. When cooled peel and deseed. You need about 200 grams of fresh uncooked red pepper to gain 100 grams of roasted pepper.
2. In the blender add the almonds. Blend until they have the consistency of powder but don't over do it as you will end up with marzipan! Blending them shouldn't take more than 1 minute.
3. Add the oats to the blender and again blend for about 1 minute with the almonds.
4. Now it's time to add your seasoning. Blend together with the almonds and oats for 30 seconds.
5. Add the roasted peppers to the blender and the olive oil. Blend until everything is very well combined. The consistency will be quite thick.
6. After the tomatoes have soaked for at least an hour pour the tomatoes into a strainer and leave to strain for a further few minutes.
7. Turn on the blender and one by one add your tomatoes, allowing the tomatoes to shred. Check the consistency every now and then to make sure the tomatoes are shredded and well combined into the mixture. You don't want them to be totally blended into tiny pieces as the size of the sun-dried tomatoes add texture to the pate, however you don't want big chunks of tomato either. Alternatively, if you have a hand held blender, blend the tomatoes in a large bowl then add the mixture to the tomatoes. Stir with a spoon (or your hands) until everything is combined.
8. Taste and add a pinch of salt if needed. I find there is usually no need as sun-dried tomatoes are, most of the time, very salty.
9. Place the mixture horizontally in the middle of the sheet of vegetable paper. Fold the paper over the pate then roll the pate with the paper to form a sausage. Before you fold completely, turn in the ends of the paper then roll to the end.
10. Keep it in the fridge in a tight container or eat straight away. I recommend leaving it overnight in the fridge so all the ingredients have time to sit.
11. To serve roll out the pate onto a serving dish. Garnish with fresh basil or thyme and serve with crackers, olives and some sliced raw vegetables. It looks great on a grazing board by the way. How will you eat yours?
Notes
- You will end up with approximately 600 grams of pate
- Keeps in fridge wrapped in vegetable paper and kept in an air tight container for 2 weeks or more. if it's not wrapped well it will loose its moisture and turn hard and crusty.
- If you don't plan to use it all at once you can divide the mixture into two or even three smaller amounts and wrap them individually in vegetable paper.
- It can be frozen. This is a good idea if you want to prepare some for a certain date.
- Adjust the seasoning and spices to your taste. You can use sage, rosemary or basil if you prefer.
- Instead of using vegetable paper to make a sausage form you can put your pate in any air tight container such as a jar or plastic container and use it as and when you need.
