One whole day and one whole night, my mum and I spent prepping, cooking, creating, messing up and re-jiging dishes to create this spread for a Christmas party!

She is such an amazing cook, I am so inspired by her and her expertise, creativity and confidence to experiment with her own unique flavours and twists in the kitchen.

Home made and Hand made... from scratch we served Lavosh crackers, seed crackers,  Focaccia, pickles, dips, preserves, condiments, Labne, Ricotta, Cakes, Pastries.... The list goes on.

So, here it is, one of my favourite dishes from the spread. Mushroom Truffle Pate! Silky, umami flavours of mushroom, miso and truffle swirled throughout! This makes a next-level dip, or is great tossed through pasta.

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Mushroom Truffle  Pate‍

Ingredients:

• 140g raw cashews
• 25gs dried Porcini
• 120ml boiling water
• 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 2 x medium eschallots chopped
• 2 cloves garlic crushed
• 500g mushrooms chopped, we used about half Swiss brown and the other half a mix of Shitake white button and a few Portabello.
• 1 Tbsp fresh rosemary
• 4 Tbsp white whine
• 1/2 tsp salt, or to taste
• 1/4 tsp white pepper or to taste
• 1 Tbsp Shiro miso
• 1 Tbsp salt reduced Tamari or soy
• Juice of half a lemon
• 1 Tbsp chopped chives
• 1 tsp truffle oil or to taste... we love more!

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Method:

• Soak cashews in water for at least 4 hours, discard water, rinse and drain.
• Place porcini in small bowl with 120mls boiling water and soak for 5 mins until soft, lift mushrooms out ,drain and chop keep water.
• Heat olive oil in large frying pan over medium heat add eschallots and garlic, fry for two minutes stirring continually.
• Add mushrooms and rosemary and cook for about 10 mins to brown, you want them sizzling but not burning.
• Deglaze pan with white wine, and cook for another minute, remove from heat ,season with salt and pepper.
• In a food processor with metal chopping blade, combine cashews, mushrooms, miso, tamari lemon juice, chives, truffle oil and porcini liquid (not the grainy sediment) and blend till smooth, taste and add additional salt, pepper or truffle oil.

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Note:

• this recipe can Serves 12
• ruffle oil is a strong flavour if you are not used to it start with 1/2 a tsp
  
• Refrigerate any leftovers, we love it warm!!