Wild mushroom pate

As the season of 'mists and mellow fruitfulness' begins to gently envelop the land it's time to enjoy a fungal foray around my local fields. Luckily I came across a field peppered with field mushrooms, so many in fact, I decided to make a pate from the excess.

Wild mushroom pate

250g of mushrooms (horse mushrooms, field mushrooms, parasol mushrooms, St Georges Mushrooms, etc)

3 finely chopped shallots

2 cloves of garlic

Butter

dry white wine

teaspoon of dark soy sauce

Rosemary, thyme and parsley

2-3 tablespoons of softened cream cheese

Salt and lots of black pepper

In a large pan, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Add the shallots and garlic and cook, stirring, until soft and fragrant, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring, until wilted and starting to brown. Add the wine, thyme, rosemary, soysauce, salt, and pepper, and cook, stirring, until the wine is nearly all evaporated, 5 minutes. Add lots of parsley and cook for 30 seconds. Transfer to a food processor. Process with the cheese until well combined. Adjust seasoning, to taste. Transfer to a dish or bowl, cover and refrigerate until set, 3 to 4 hours. Serve chilled.

Lightweight backpacking soup

This is just a simple lightweight backpacking soup which i quite often have for my lunch when backpacking, you could use any dried mushroom or a mix.

Recipe:

Handful dried Cep (Boletus edulis) mushrooms and some chopped wild tree ear if available (Auricularia auricularia).

Handful of young nettle leaves or similar edible wild greens chopped.
1 quick cooking package noodles, without the flavour packet
1 chicken stock cube
Extras if available (but not necessary): soya sauce; 1 garlic glove crushed; 4 spring onions, chopped; 1 teaspoon sesame oil to give it a nice chinese flavour.