Mushroom pâté makes an excellent and light snack or appetizer    .  You can also slice off a big chunk and place it on top of a salad!  The consistency really is pâté-esque and you can mix up the mushrooms and spices to fit any mushroom-appreciating tastebud.

Ingredients:

• 8 oz. assorted mushrooms: shitake, oyster, cremini, common, etc.
• 2 T butter
• 1/4 c. chopped shallots
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1/4 t. ground cumin
• 1/4 t. dried thyme
• 1/2 c. toasted almonds
• 1 T. extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 T. minced basil or parsley

1. Clean then coarsely chopmushrooms.
2. In a 5-6 qt. pan over med-high heat, melt butter.  Add the mushrooms, shallots, garlic, and herbs.  Stir until all the liquid is evaporated and everything is lightly browned, about 6-8 minutes.
3. In a food processor, finely grind the almonds.  Add the oil and whirl again until a paste forms.  Add the mushroom mixture, and parsley, then whirl until smooth.  Add salt & pepper to taste.
4. Mound into a mold or simply into a bowl.  Serve with baguette slices or cracker.

At a recent farmer’s market I was tempted by the samples and discovered an amazing sun-dried tomato hummus, made by the lovely folks at East & West Gourmet Afghan Foods. I devoured the container I brought home – I think Brad got to taste some, but maybe not very much. I kept the lid with the ingredient list so that I could try my hand at this dip. Today I cooked a huge batch of garbanzo beans, got some sun-dried tomatoes ready – and here it is, delicious hummus – healthy, fresh, & fast (if you use canned beans – slower but so worth it if you cook up your own batch of chickpeas).

The dip would be perfect with veggies, pita wedges, a spread on a sandwich, or many other inventions I am sure.

Ingredients:

• 4-5 sun-dried tomatoes
• 2 cloves of garlic
• juice of half a lemon
• pinch of salt
• 1.5 c cups garbanzo beans (or 1 can)
• 1/2 t tahini

1. Place sun-dried tomatoes in a small dish. Cover with boiling water and let them soften, about 15-30 minutes. Remove and coarsely chop. Place the tomato in a small food processor bowl.
2. In a small saute pan, roast the garlic cloves. Flip them often until the papery covering blackens and the clove is soft. Squeeze out the flesh and add to the food processor. Add the lemon juice and salt to the food processor also.
3. Run the food procesor until everything is finely chopped and well combined.
4. Add the beans and tahini to the food processor. Process again until the mixture is nicely combined but has some nice chunkiness. Taste and adjust seasonings.

One of my best friends is Maltese. She recently returned from a visit to Malta and has been tempting me with stories of all the food she had. One of the Maltese classics is a dip called bigilla. It is made from dried fava beans, a touch of garlic & hot pepper then spread on bread, on pizza, or possibly just eaten as is. I’m not 100% since I haven’t been to Malta yet.

After some research and reviewing her family recipe, below is the version I made. We spread it on pizza over a layer of tomato paste. I topped mine with additional veggies, fresh mozarella, and some vegan sausage that I will post about soon. Brad stuck with cheese only. It was very tasty and I’m sure we’ll have bigilla again.

BTW, cooking the fava beans was fascinating and worth doing if you never have. The water they cook in turns dark brown and the scent is incredible! I meant to take a photo of them in their broth but I forgot.

Ingredients:

• 14 oz. dried fava beans, soaked overnight (also known as broad beans)
• 2-4 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 hot pepper, minced (I used a jalapeno)
• handful of parsley, finely chopped
• spoonful of olive oil
• salt & pepper

1. Soak the fava beans overnight. Oh I mentioned that above? Well I really meant it! These suckers are tough and need the soaking time, so please don’t skip this step! Replace the water they soak in if/when it becomes murky.
2. Put the beans in a pot with fresh water covering them at least an inch. Bring to a boil. Boil the beans 1.5-2 hours. Keep a bit of hot water nearby because you will probably need to add more water as the beans cook. When they are soft and mushy, they are finished – if you aren’t sure, let them keep going.
3. Drain the beans but reserve a bit of the cooking liquid.
4. Place the beans in a bowl and mash them up. I actually used two knives and sliced them up a bit before I mashed them. This is probably not very authentic.
5. Add the other ingredients and season to taste.
6. Enjoy on bread or top a pizza with this spread. It would be great on a sandwich also.

I was first introduced to this spicy Mayan dip at the San Francisco Ferry Building Farmer’s Market. In the back of the market you will find a stall for Primavera Products where they sell their delicious tamales, fresh tortillas, guacamole, and sikil pak – among other things! I devoured the first batch we purchased from them and instantly began researching how to make this amazing spicy dip. It is quite simple I discovered – and just as addictive from my kitchen as from the lovely Primavera stall.

I love this dip spread on a tortilla as I build tacos and burritos. It is also fantastic alone with chips! Give it a whirl – but do be forewarned this makes about 2 cups of dip, so be ready to give some to friends or have a Sikil Pakty (get it? pakty/party? yeah I’ll keep working on that joke ). It keeps quite well in the fridge also.

Ingredients:

• 1 habanero chili, stemmed
• 10 cloves of garlic, unpeeled
• 3-4 tomatoes
• 2 1/2 c. pumpkin seeds
• 1/3 c. vegetable stock
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 1/4 c. finely chopped cilantro
• Pinch of ground cinnamon
• Pinch of ground nutmeg
• 1/2 t. salt

1. Place the habanero and garlic cloves on a baking sheet under the broiler. Turn every few minutes until all sides are blackened and the garlic cloves are soft. Set aside. Repeat with the tomatoes so the skin is charred and peeling off.
2. Toast the pumpkin seeds, either on the stove top or in the oven. After they are nicely toasted, add them to a food processor and grind them into a fine, uniform meal.
3. Carefully quarter the habanero – remove and discard the seeds and veins. (Note: I actually wear disposable gloves or put my hands inside of small ziploc bags before handling these peppers. Be very careful because they are extremely hot peppers and the tiniest amount can sting your eyes.)
4. Peel the garlic and tomatoes. Add the habanero, tomatoes, garlic, and stock to the food processor. Blend until the mixture is well combined. If it is too think add a bit more stock.
5. Remove from processor and stir in onion, spices, and cilantro.
6. Enjoy!

Eggplants again – but hey, now I’ve cooked what I had so we’ll move along to other veggies soon! Actually this can scarcely be considered a veggie dish – it sits much more firmly on the dip side. But is it fantastic to spread on flat breads alone or for a sandwich and great to dip other vegetables into. Its quite easy to make but be sure really squeeze the juices out of the eggplant – those are what adds bitterness.

Ingredients:

• 1 large eggplant
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1/4 c. tahini
• juice of 1 lemon
• salt
• extra virgin olive oil

1. Preheat the oven to 425. Slash the eggplant in several places (to release steam) then bake until it is so soft it is nearly collapsed, about 30-40 minutes.
2. Let it cool about 15 minutes, then peel the eggplant and squeeze to remove juices.
3. Add the peeled eggplant to a blender along with the garlic and tahini. Puree until smooth.
4. Season with lemon juice and salt.
5. Transfer to serving dish and top with a touch of olive oil and enjoy!

When I was getting ready for our friends to come over to watch commercials – err, I mean the Super Bowl, I decided to throw together a veggie tray. I always forget to do this and it really is nice to have so many fresh options available to snack on. As I wa laying out the veggies I realized the babaganoush I made would certainly be good with them, but they might like a creamier dip to jump into to. So I used wha I had: the internet, and the following for a very easy and tasty little dip the veggies loved!

Ingredients:

• 2/3 c. sour cream – I typically only have low-fat but use what you like
• 3-4 greend onions, chopped into cute little rounds
• juice from 1 lemon
• smoked salt
• pepper

Mix it all together and fine tune according to taste. I let this sit in the fridge about an hour so the flavors could meld before serving.

And when we finished snacking, the babaganoush AND this veggie dip were completely gone.