I’ve had this one on my list of recipes to try for a while, and the tipping point was when I spotted raw hulled sunflower seeds in the bulk bin at Whole Foods. The nice weather also helped since it is called the ‘perfect summer pate’.

For about 75 cents, I had the cup of sunflower seeds I needed. I soaked them for a few hours, and then put them in the food processor with lemon juice, salt, soy sauce, chopped dates, water, and grated carrots. It seemed like an odd combination of ingredients, but the pate was great. I’ll cut back on the salt next time, and maybe experiment with fresh herbs as well.

• sandwiches