Savory Eggplant Pâté
This vegetarian “pâté” is about as French as you can get: it’s essentially an eggplant soufflé, complete with crème fraîche, and it’s cooked in a bain-marie. It’s classic but far from boring: the eggy, creamy eggplant spread puffs up like a loaf of bread, doing justice to one of my all-time favorite vegetables and all-time favorite cuisines. Though doubtful, if you do find yourself with leftovers, it keeps well covered in your refrigerator for up to 2 days.
Ingredients
Serves 6 to 8
- 2¼ pounds globe eggplants about 4, tops discarded
- Extra-virgin olive oil
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 6 tablespoons crème fraîche
- 1 clove garlic coarsely chopped
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne
- 7 eggs at room temperature
- 1 loaf sourdough cut into ½-inch slices and toasted
Instructions
- It helps to know: This recipe requires a blender, a small terrine or gratin dish, and a second baking dish large enough to hold the terrine.
- Preheat your oven to 375°F.
- Place the eggplants on individual sheets of aluminum foil, coat with olive oil, and sprinkle with a pinch each of salt and pepper.
- Wrap up the eggplants, set them on a baking sheet, and bake for 1 hour.
- Remove the pan from your oven, leaving the oven on.
- Open the foil, slice the eggplants in half lengthwise, and let them cool to room temperature.
- Once the eggplants are cool (don’t skimp on this part or you’ll cook the eggs! ), discard any seed pockets (don’t worry about getting every seed).
- Scoop the insides into a large bowl and discard the skin.
- Stir in the crème fraîche, garlic, cumin, cayenne, eggs, and a generous pinch each of salt and pepper.
- Pour the mixture into a food processor or blender, and blend on high speed until smooth.
- Line the terrine with aluminum foil or parchment paper.
- Pour the eggplant mixture into the prepared dish.
- Set the terrine into the larger baking dish and fill the baking dish with water so it comes one-third of the way up the sides of the terrine.
- Bake the terrine sitting in water (called a bain-marie), for 1½ hours.
- Remove the baking dish from your oven, remove the terrine from the baking dish, and let the pâté cool completely.
- Serve alongside the toasted sourdough.