Here’s a recipe fit for a queen

I love to cook and bake and feed people. I really do. No one ever goes hungry at my house. If you love people, feed them tasty food has been my motto for years.

Stuck at home this past decade, uh I mean year, uh I mean nine months has led to a lot of what my darling daughter calls “kitchen science.” That is to say, I have been experimenting with different foods, creating, most of the time, pretty good stuff.

I have created a way to make white and red wine with lemon infused finishing salts. I created a chili pepper and wine infused finishing salt too. I did one with balsamic vinegar but that was an epic failure resulting in a sticky, salty mass of granular goop. While it wasn’t fit to eat, it was an extremely effective weed killer so all was not lost.

I have also created my own vegetable bullion powder — fabulous!

I have made tomato soup from my garden fruit as well as a butternut squash, peanut curry soup and persimmon cookies by the dozens.

I’ve also whipped up a Lucille Ball Persimmon Cake or two. (It was a bumper crop year for persimmons!)

And banana bread. I learned to make it fast in my bread maker and have also tried my hand at a couple of new recipes from The Queen’s former chef, Darren McGrady, who created two versions — one for adults with golden raisins and cherries and one for The Royal Children sans raisins and cherries but with a caramel frosting. Apparently, banana bread is the go-to comfort food at Buckingham Palace, here too as neither recipe disappoints.

And then there has been a whole lot of experimenting with mushrooms. A friend grows Wine Cap ( king stropharia) gourmet mushrooms at her place, 530 Farms, and I help her market and sell them which has been so much fun. But … sometimes these “garden giants” which can grow caps as large as 9-inches across, are soooo happy and healthy that we end up with 50 pounds in one day. That’s a lot of shrooms! So, we’ve come up with some ingenious ways to preserve these fabulous fungi and recipes that use them up by the pound.

We’ve dried them for future use in sauce, soup and gravy; we’ve made Mushroom Duxelles and frozen it by the boatload; and,

I’ve made several batches of my best friend’s mother’s favorite soup: Jan’s Mushroom Sherry Soup as well a mushroom barley stew that warms the belly.

But really there are only so many bowls of mushroom soup or sauteed mushrooms you can eat before you start having dreams about toadstools growing from your ears and your beloved husband threatens to go on a hunger strike. It was this “suffering from abundance” that led me back to the kitchen for some experimenting and resulted in, I am proud to say, a knock your socks off, good enough to serve The Queen, appetizer. I thought there might be some of you who would enjoy having the recipe for Thanksgiving …

530 Farms Mushroom Walnut Pâté

1 ½ cups walnuts

½ cup minced shallots (or red onion)

1-pound Wine Cap Mushrooms (or 1-pound baby bella mushrooms)

2 tablespoons roasted garlic puree (about 4 — 6 cloves fresh then roasted) ¼ cup butter

2 — 3 tablespoons of olive oil

½ to 1 teaspoon dried thyme (vary amount to taste)

½ teaspoon red wine, lemon infused finishing salt (or ½ teaspoon coarsely ground sea salt)

½ teaspoon finely ground white pepper

STEP 1 » Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spread walnuts in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Toast for 10 minutes, or until fragrant and lightly browned. At the same time, roast garlic cloves rubbed in olive oil until they just turn golden. The more caramelized they become, the better.

STEP 2 » In a large sauté pan, cook shallots in the butter over medium heat until translucent. Then add chopped mushrooms, roasted garlic, thyme, salt, and pepper. Cook, stirring often, until most of the liquid has evaporated.

STEP 3 » Process toasted walnuts and olive oil in a blender or food processor until mixture forms a thick paste. Spoon in the cooked mushroom mixture, and process to desired texture.

STEP 4 » Pack mixture into well- oiled ramekins or bowl. Cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for a few hours or overnight. The pâté will slide easily out of the ramekins in a nice shape ready to serve or garnish. Serve at room temperature. Freezes for up to 3 months.

SERVING SUGGESTIONS

Top with diced roasted red peppers, serve on crostini with a sunflower micro green garnish

Serve on crackers with fresh tomato and fresh cilantro leaf garnish

(My sick-of-mushrooms husband also enjoys it as a sandwich spread with lots of veggies — tomatoes, fresh red onion, micro greens, black or green olives, avocado and butterleaf lettuce.)