Eggplant Pâté - The Veggie Table

A chunky mixture of roasted eggplant and toasted walnuts that you can eat on bread or crackers.
Yield	2 cups
Time	45 minutes
Tools	large bowl wooden spoon large baking sheet food processor small bowl
Ingredients	1 large eggplant (1½ pounds) 2 T olive oil 2 T balsamic vinegar 1 T fresh basil, minced* ½ small clove garlic, minced* ½ c walnuts salt, preferably smoked pepper
Directions	Preheat oven to 400. Peel the eggplant (optional), then cut into small cubes. Place in bowl and toss with oil and vinegar. Spread evenly across baking sheet and bake for about 30 minutes, until soft. Set aside to cool. Reduce oven to 250° and toast the walnuts for about 10 minutes, until fragrant. Roughly chop. Place eggplant, basil, and garlic in food processor and blend until smooth. Add walnuts, salt, and pepper and pulse a few times, until just mixed but still chunky. Transfer to bowl and, if you like, smooth the top and edges with a rubber spatula to make it look like real pâté. Garnish and serve.
Notes	You can use 1 T of pesto in place of basil and garlic. Adapted from the recipe for "Roasted Eggplant, Walnut, and Basil Pâté" in Cafe Flora Cookbook, by Catherine Geier and Carol Brown – read my review. Buy it:* Amazon.com \| Amazon.co.uk
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