Transforming Green Beans into Pâté

I've been debating with myself about whether I should include recipes on this blog. It wasn't part of my initial vision for this space, but I'm beginning to think that recipes with some of my favorite seasonal foods would be a nice fit. So on that vein...

It's the season for green beans. This recipe for a walnut and green bean pâté is one of my favorites. It's adapted from The Moosewood Cookbook by Mollie Katzen. I was skeptical when I first saw it. Green beans and walnuts aren't the most obvious of combinations for a pâté, but once I whipped up a batch I was quickly won over. Katzen says it tastes like chopped liver. I tend to agree! It's excellent on crusty bread on in a sandwich. It is also a great on crackers or accompanying a cheese plate.

Vegetable Walnut Pâté
1 Tbs vegetable oil
1/2 cup minced onion
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups green beans, chopped
2 hard boiled eggs
1/3 cup chopped walnuts
1 Tbs fresh lemon juice
1 Tbs mayonnaise
1 Tbs nutritional yeast
1/4 cup parsley, chopped
black pepper to taste

Heat the oil in skillet over medium heat and sauté the onions until they begin to brown (about 10 minutes). Add the chopped green beans and saute until tender and very slightly browned(another 10 minutes or so). Remove from heat.

When the beans and onions are cooled, combine them in a food processor with the rest of the ingredients and grind them into a paste. Chill and serve.

When I serve this as a pâté, I like to top it with fresh fried onions. Basically, slice up half an onion and fry the slices over medium-high heat until they're brown and crispy.

If you don't ahve nutritional yeast, you can skip it. It's harder to skip the parsley. Also don't overdo the mayonnaise or lemon juice.

Enjoy!