Mushroom Magic

It's the season for mushrooms and I've bought another mountain of them, so having made soups and put them in almost all of my cooking I thought I'd try a mushroom pate...a trial run for an addition to our Christmas table.  The result was delicious, which is just as well as the recipe makes mountains of the stuff, fine for Christmas with lots of vegetarian visitors though!

Yummy Mushroom Pate
Serves 8
Ingredients
500g mushrooms, chopped
2 tbsp butter,
1 bunch spring onions, chopped
250g cream cheese
2 tbsp parsley, chopped
2 tsp brandy (optional)
4 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp mushroom ketchup


Method
Melt the butter in a large frying pan.  Add the mushrooms and onions and cook gently with the lid off for about 10 minutes until soft.  Allow to cool.

Meanwhile put the cheese and parsley in a food processor and combine.  Add the mushroom mixture and all the remaining ingredients and pulse until the texture is fine but not completely smooth.  Put the mixture into serving dishes and chill for at least 2 hours.  Serve with toast or crackers or add to a baked potato for a tasty supper.