Courgette and Almond Pâté

I had some guests round on Sunday as a belated celebration of my birthday. This simple little dish went down particularly well, so I wanted to share it with a wider audience. Those of you not on the vegan side of the fence may want to make some substitutions.

Ingredients:
10ml (2tsp) olive oil
1 medium courgette (sliced)
1/2 small red onion (finely chopped)
Fresh basil (they sell it in bags at my local supermarkets, and I used one of those, less a couple of leaves snagged by our rabbit, who also got all the stalks - spoiled little fella!)
1 bulb (not a misprint) of garlic (crushed and chopped)
Salt
Cayenne pepper
50-100ml (2-4 fl. oz) Soya cream
100g almonds

1) Slice the red onion finely, and fry in the oil for a few minutes, until it's softened, and the smell is making you dreamy.
2) Slice the courgette and add to the onion. Fry until the courgettes are cooked.
3) While the courgette is cooking, crush and chop the bulb of garlic.
4) Add salt and Cayenne pepper to the onion and courgette as desired. Tear the basil and add it, too.
5) Put all the ingredients (except half the soya cream) in a suitable container, and whizz them up with a food processor. Add as much of the remaining soya cream as desired until the mixture has a pleasing consistency.
6) Let the mixture cool, and chill it in the fridge until you fancy it.

This might last for more than three days, but I've never managed to avoid devouring it all within that span of time.