Mushroom Pate

150g sliced mushrooms

garlic to taste

salt and black pepper to taste

chilli to taste

1tsp olive oil

2 tsp water

55g cream cheese (light)

Heat the tsp of olive oil in a non-stick pan or skillet. Add the mushrooms and crushed garlic and stir them in the oil quickly to coat them. It doesn't matter how much garlic you add, two cloves makes a good garlicky pate. Add the 2 tsp water and put the lid on. Reduce the heat and cook until the mushrooms are soft. it doesn't matter if one or two of them just start to brown, but you don't want a lot of browning.

Turn off the heat and allow the mushrooms to cool a little, then put two thirds of them in a blender with salt, freshly ground black pepper and chilli to taste.  Reserve the other third until later. Add two ounces of low fat ceam cheese (Philadelphia style) to the ingredients and blend until smooth.

Taste to ensure the seasoning is OK, then add the remaining cooked mushrooms.  The pate will have a softish texture at this stage, but once cooled will firm up a bit.  Store in an airtight container in the fridge, where it will potentially keep for up to three days if you don't eat it in one sitting.