honey and sting

For reasons, my doctor wants me on a vegan diet. I have *mostly* been doing this for the past month, with occasional forays back to the MEAT and FISH world (one meal of duck confit omg so good, a few other times for fish, my mother's chicken soup broth).

In the meantime, on the hunt for tasty vegan options, I managed to concoct THIS:

In a skillet, sautee 2 smallish or 1 large leek, then add a large quantity of any kind of mushrooms (preferably fresh, but re-soaked dried ones will do) you can get your hands on. I've used button, crimini, shitake, maitake, oyster, and chantarelles. I recommend the shitake and chantarelles, if you can get them fresh, but all of them work. I sliced them all up, add course salt and some black pepper, and go. I've also used cayenne instead of black pepper, and harissa sauce when I had it (smoky spicy red pepper sauce in an olive oil base).

Separately, put a package of Trader Joe's pre-cooked tiny little lentils in a good blender or food processor with enough olive oil to make it smooth, the juice of half to a whole lemon (depending on size), and dried onion flakes (I get them from Costco) and blend.

Add in the sauteed leek and mushroom mix and pulse till it's blended in but some chunky bits remain.

You will have something somewhat reminiscent of chopped chicken liver pate, but so much better. Add additional seasonings as desired. Good on crackers or chips, on top of rice or quinoa, or as an enhancer for vegetable soup.