Bean and Olive Pate With Eggs

A flavoursome appetiser or entrée dish which (except for the toast which you may want to make at the time) can be completely made ahead of time, this paté can also be served with other patés, dips and warm pita bread as part of any Mediterranean-style meal. This recipe can be made with butter beans, haricot beans or chickpeas instead of the cannellini beans used here. Because the recipe uses two cans of beans, you may like to use two different beans. This recipe has been adapted from a recipe on an International Masters '1001 recipes for pan or wok' recipe card.

• Ready In: 23 mins
• Serves: 6

Ingredients

• 3  eggs
• 50  g kalamata olives, pitted
• 2 (400 g) cans cannellini beans, well-drained
• 4  garlic cloves
• 2  teaspoons fresh rosemary, finely chopped
• 1⁄4 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1⁄4 teaspoon dried basil
• 2  tablespoons lemon juice
•  salt, to taste
•  fresh ground black pepper, to taste
• 6  tablespoons olive oil
• 12  slices  crusty bread, lightly toasted
• 1  sprig flat leaf parsley, to garnish

Directions

1. Cook the eggs in a pan of boiling water for 8 minutes, drain, then cover with cold water and allow to cool.
2. While the eggs are cooking, finely chop the olives; peel and crush 3 of the cloves of garlic and set aside the other clove of garlic; peel the eggs and cut them into quarters and set aside.
3. Put the well-drained beans, crushed garlic, rosemary, thyme, basil and lemon juice in a food processor, season with salt and pepper and blend until smooth.
4. With the food processor still running, gradually add the oil, and continue to process until the oil has been blended into the rest of the ingredients.
5. If serving as an appetiser or entrée, transfer the paté into 4 ramekins and, distributing them between the four ramekins, stir just over a quarter of the olives into the paté, then sprinkle the rest of the olives on top. If serving as a paté to accompany dips, do the same but simply use one serving bowl.
6. Toast the bread, and rub the whole garlic over one side of the toast slices, drizzle with a little olive oil and season with pepper.
7. Serve the paté, garnished with parsley, with the eggs and toast.