horseradish-dip with pumpkin & thyme

so i have this new addiction. it started a while ago... one fine day when i was having a very early first glass of white wine around lunch-time-ish with a good friend in berlin. he felt like a "little snack" as he called it, then pulled out this glass out of the fridge and opened up a packet of crackers. it was this soft horseradish mousse, enriched with some pumpkin that tasted just divine on that salty little cracker. "the little snack" turned into lunch as i pretty much finished the whole glass (i am such a greedy guest, its not even funny...).
back home i had to come up with an idea. they dont do horseradish dip with pumpkin where i live. so i started to potter around in my kitchen - thinking about what to mix together to end up with that supersoft dip.
it didnt take much as you can see in the recipe below. you can substitute the pumpkin with fried mushrooms (but make sure you cut them into tiny little bits), add other or no herbs... really whatever would make you happy when sipping a glass of white wine.





RECIPE

200g cream cheese
100g horseradish mousse *
2-3 tablespoons of finely cubed pumpkin
a splash of white wine
2 tablespoons of finely plucked fresh thyme
freshly ground pepper, to taste

salted crackers, to serve

heat some olive oil in a frying pan and add the finely cubed pumpkin. cook over high heat until they start to soften a bit, then add the white wine, reduce heat & cook until pumpkin is soft. set aside and let cool a bit.
mix the cream cheese & the horseradish in a bowl, add fresh thyme, season with freshly ground pepper, then add the pumpkin & mix well.
put in a nice serving dish & serve with salted crackers.

put in a preserving glass, this keeps in the fridge for about a week.

*horseradish mousse is a very soft mousse made of horseradish & some sort of soft cheese. if you can't find it in the shops, simply substitute with freshly ground horseradish or some horseradish out of a tube or glass (you might wanna reduce the amout, though...)