I met Neha in our children’s school. She would be coming down the narrow spiral staircase while I would wait on the side for my turn to go up. This meant that Neha would always drop Rayna two minutes before I could drop our kid. We can safely deduce that Neha is a tad bit more punctual than I am. We lived on the same street in adjacent buildings. While I would watch her leave school I would always feel that we would become good friends some day.
My predictive sense prevailed. We meet often, we chat a lot and we party too.
In one potluck, many years back Neha had served us mushroom pâté on Melba toast. The pâté looked murky and grey. One would think it looked rather plain plopped on tiny toasts as though it was saying “I am sorry but I forgot my blush-on today”. The tray was going around the room. I could see sense reservation and intrigue, as the little toasts got picked up. When it was my turn the little antipasto went right into my mouth without further ado.
And lo behold! It was pure delish! Neha gave me the recipe on a tissue at Potpourri. I used to love that eatery.
My food word for this recipe would be chic.
When you go shopping look for;
Button mushroom
Black pepper powder
Grated mozzarella
Garlic
Olive oil
Salt
The recipe would be:
Clean mushrooms with a tissue. Roughly chop them. Warm two table spoons of olive oil in a wok. Add six garlic pods. Within less than a minute add the chopped mushrooms. I used two packets. It can serve about ten people. Add salt to taste and two tbsp of black pepper powder. I recommend using home ground pepper. Stir fry on a medium flame till the mushroom cooks. This would be for about four minutes. Add the grated cheese and take the wok off the flame. Cool the mushroom till it is at room temperature. Taste for salt and pepper. At this point I usually throw in about one tea spoon of pepper powder. Once cool, blend the mushroom till it is pasty like a Pâté.
Serve on toasts or crackers. Or serve in a jar with accompaniments on the side.
