This was inspired by Karen's yummy mushroom tapenade and the 2 pounds of shrooms I had about to go off in the fridge.

-2 pounds mushrooms, about to go off
-about 1/4 c. vegetable oil of some sort; I used the oil that had Italian pickled eggplant in it, after the eggplant was gone; there was a lot of chilli pepper in it
-4 tbsp of cream cheese that need to be used up
-2 tbsp of pesto, smuggled home from Sainsbury's in London (for some reason, England is where I've found the best pesto)
-some cilantro

Chop the mushrooms or rip them up with your fingers. Take a big pan or wok, heat the oil, sautee the mushrooms till done. Add rest of ingredients and puree in a food processor till smooth.

This is scrumptious served warm with meat!

I'm surprised it worked out so well, since I was really just using up leftovers. It didn't taste like leftovers, though!

Rachel

I found this incredible recipe for mushroom leather, that you dry in dehydrator .. it uses mushrooms just at the edge of being past their prime .. seasonings, a little dry sherry ... then puréed and dried in Tbsp sized disks ... very intense mushroom concentrate flavour to add to foods, sauce, omelets ... I'll have to dig out the book .. was planning to type it up and post in yer journal, you know .... the other one!

Your paté sounds wonderful. I think I have enough ingreds. on hand to make a very small batch. Yummm.
Doreen

All this mushroom talk is inspiring me to get the tapenade recipe done.

The mushroom leather sounds very cool.

Karen

i love mushrooms! i have a bumper crop of basil in the backyard! looks like i'll be making some pesto, so i can make the pate! hauling out the food processor! i have a very small kitchen!

I think I feel an eggplant experiment coming on....

Rachel

If you bury an eggplant by the light of a full moon, you will be turned into a piece of tofu, so don't try that one. BDDT. I had to throw myself at a small animal to return to human shape.

Karen

karen, you crack me up!!

And it's not just Karen that cracks me up. Everyone seems to have a side to them that seems to tickle my funny bone on a daily basis!.

hArrd totype.., nofIngrs.... i squarE now, smel funny, need soyyya suace. karen, yor warnnig toooo late. i tryed bury egggplant. where a smalllll animal? dont see tooo gooood. here sqirrel, got nutttt...

oh, no full moooon lasst nite/??

Oh, thank God, it was just a dream. Whew! Be a while before I try THAT one again!

Rachel

Can you tell the girl is Canadian?

I should qualify that. NATURALLY, it's imported from Italy! For some reason, the pesto I've found here in Vancouver has veg oil, not olive oil, unlike the 'English' pesto. I've got a kid with an airline job, and sometimes it's less trouble to fly to London than take a bus to the Italian side of Vancouver!

OK, so why don't I just go to Italy? Hmmmm.....

Rachel

Can you tell the girl is Canadian?

Yah, OK, I admit it, eh?

Rachel

See! Americans are right to say that a Canadian basically is an Englishman with good teeth!