Carrot Cashew Pate

I bought some of this at our local "Touch of Christmas" many years ago, and later Helen who had made the pate gave me this recipe. This is one of the yummy recipes I had almost forgotten about until I searched my notebooks for this blog, I shall make this again very soon.

In a skillet over medium heat melt:

2 T butter [I use olive oil]

Add:

1 small onion, sliced
1 clove garlic, minced or pressed

Cook, stirring frequently, until onion is soft. Add:

2 c carrots, thinly sliced
3/4 t salt [I omit]
1/2 t curry powder [plus 1 t grated fresh ginger, 1 T lemon juice]*
2/3 c water

Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until carrots are tender, 6-8 minutes. Set aside.

In a blender/food processor fitted with a steel blade finely grind*

3/4 c salted [I use unsalted] roasted cashews

Continue blending, adding:

1½ T olive oil

Add carrot mixture and blend until smooth. Stir in:

1/2 c chopped salted [unsalted] roasted cashews

Serve at room temperature with crackers, pita chips, or raw veggies.

*OCT 2012: Finally made this again.  See photo second from top. Though I usually prefer dips on the chunky side, I should have followed the instructions to finely grind. Also found the original recipe a bit bland.  Tried again, ground much finer and added: 

2 t finely grated fresh ginger
2 T lemon juice

Served on endive leaves topped with crushed cashews and also with crackers.  The consistency of the finer ground dip makes spreading on crackers much easier. NOTE: Full recipe makes ~ 3 1/2 cups. Quantity shown in photos is half the recipe.

CARROT CASHEW SALAD

Ed did not like the rather bland original recipe, liked the dip with added ginger and lemon juice, especially on endive (also got rave reviews from recent guests) and really liked this pate in a salad.

Press pate into a small (3" diameter) ramekin until ramekin is 1/2 to 2/3 full.  Run sharp knife around inside edge of ramekin.  Turn ramekin upside down on a bed of small lettuces and tap to release pate.  Garnish pate with crushed cashews and thinly sliced chives or scallion greens.  

Lightly dress lettuce with balsamic reduction or balsamic vinaigrette.

CASHEW (CARROT) DIP

June 2017:  I was meeting a friend for a picnic and would not have an opportunity to purchase fresh bread and was wondering what to make when I opened the Spring 2017 issue of edibleBoston and found "Welcome Spring with a Picnic". It suggested several locations in the Boston area that would be ideal for a picnic and the following recipes:Cashew Dip, Barley and Herb Salad, Noodle Frittata with Greens and Gruyere and Rhubarb Almond Cake. Okay, this was going to be a simple picnic.  I opted for the Cashew Dip paired with some Trader Joe's Seeded Mango & Ginger Crisps and Persian (small) cucunber strips, some herbed goat cheese paired with Trader Joe's Fig & Olive Crisps, a jar of Dilly Beans and some good dark chocolate.  The other recipes looked good and I may try later but so far have made the Cashew Dip several times:

The edibleBoston recipe calls for cooking carrots over medium high heat for 15 minutes; I used raw carrots. I also used curry instead of tumeric. The author suggests serving with snap peas and rice crackers, a good option for spring when peas are in season.

Place the following in a food processor bowl:

1/2 pound carrots, peeled, if necessary, and cut into 1!' chunks
1 (1") piece of ginger, peeded and roughly chopped
1/2 c roasted unsalted cashews
3 T coconut milk, more if needed
1 t curry (edibleBoston uses 1 t tumeric)
Sea salt to taste
Juice of i lime  (1 - 2 T)

Puree, scraping sides of bowl until all ingredients form a smooth puree.  Add additional coconut milk if smoother consistency is desired.

Reviewed 7/8/2017