December is a very magical month. Full of love, fragrances and preparations.
Whenever I come home after Christmas, I bake my favourite carrot pate. It is full of spices, and its aroma fills the whole house.
“Honey, do you have to make that noise at 6 in the morning?”
“Oh, good morning honey”
“Mmmm, what smells so good?”
“Thats the roasted carrots and spiced parsley. You need to take it out in 5 or so minutes. Once its cooled down, could you put it in the fridge? When I get back, I'll make a pate”
“But it smells so good that I don't know if it's enough for a pate…. So maybe this year, you’ll make it without carrots?”
“Don't you dare!”
The smell of roasted vegetables with cloves and nutmeg makes the house smell like dinner.
To prepare our base for pate, we need:
Ingredients:
- 700g of peeled carrots
- 400g of peeled parsley
- 1 small peeled sweet potato
- A pinch of ground cloves
- A bit of grated nutmeg
- Pinch of salt.
- 2 eggs
- 6 tablespoons of cooked corn grits
- 1 and ½ ripe lime
- 200g of a mixture of nuts
- 4 cloves of garlic
- 1 Small onion
- 2 cm of fresh ginger
- 1 teaspoon of curry powder
- 1 teaspoon of savoury
- Pepper
- A handful of fresh parsley
- A handful of fresh coriander
Method:
- Cut vegetables into thick strips and brush with oil
- Sprinkle with spices (salt, cloves and nutmeg)
- Bake until the vegetables become soft. (around 20-25mins). Then, let the baked vegetables cool down for a while.
- In the meantime, lightly fry the onion in a hot frying pan
- Add 2 cloves of garlic and grated ginger, a pinch of salt and grated cloves.
- Leave it to cool as well.
- In a mortar, crush the nuts and pepper.
- Blend everything after the vegetables have cooled down along with the onion, garlic, and ginger. The consistency does not have to be smooth.
- Then add eggs, salt, parsley, coriander, corn grits, curry, savoury, garlic, and juice from the limes and blend everything again.
- Then add half of the nuts and gently mix with the rest of the pate.
- Smear the pate form with oil and then cover the whole bottom with the remaining nuts.
- Put the plate in the oven and bake for 50-60 minutes.