Pork Terrine with Pistachios, Apricots and Prunes

(1 9"x5" loaf)

Terrines are quite wonderful. They often end up looking very impressive, yet they are easy to make. I had some ham I wanted to use up, and thought this would be the perfect vehicle.

This is a great party food, or just nice for a hot day because once it's done, it's served at room temperature. It keeps for about a week refrigerated, and is great with pickles, bread and salad.

I add a 1/4 pound of chicken livers which impart a wonderful flavour. If people either aren't told or have had enough drinks, they will devour this regardless of the liver, hehe. It's hard to stop eating it once you get started.

1 tbsp olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium onion, finely chopped (about 1 1/2 cups)
1 1/2 tsp fresh thyme, chopped or 1/2 tsp dried
1/4 lb chicken livers, trimmed and roughly cut up (optional)
1 3/4 lb good quality sausage meat, (I used pork bratwurst from the Whole Foods butcher)
1 large egg
1/3 cup Port or Madiera
2-4 bay leaves
8-10 thin slices of bacon
1/3 cup shelled pistachios
1/2 lb ham, (give or take) cut into strips
about 4-5 dried apricots, cut in half lengthwise
about 4-5 dried prunes, cut in half lengthwise

Heat the oil in a skillet. Add the garlic and fry for about 1 minute, then add the onion. Saute over low heat until the onion is a light golden brown; about 10-15 minutes.

Add the thyme and cook another minute, then remove from heat OR if you are using the chicken livers, then add those too, but cook for another 3-4 minutes. Remove from heat.

When the onion mixture has cooled a bit, place that into a large bowl. Add the sausage meat (remove the casings if there are any), egg and Port or Madiera. Combine everything really well. I find hands seem to do the job best here.

Preheat the oven to 350° F.

Place 1 or 2 bay leaves on the bottom of a 9" loaf pan and then line the pan with a single layer of bacon (cut them up as needed), with some strips hanging over the sides. Add a layer of sausage meat mixture. Sprinkle a few pistachios over this and then arrange a few strips of ham over that. Fill everything in with a bit more sausage meat,

Arrange the prunes and apricots in a row in the middle. Sprinkle a few more pistachios, then fill everything in again with a bit more sausage meat.

Sprinkle some pistachios, and arrange a few strips of ham. Fill in with the sausage mixture. I imagine everything should be used up at this point, but if it isn't just continue until it is, ending with a layer of sausage meat.

Cover the top with the bacon which was hanging at the sides. Top with another bay leaf or two.
Place the terrine into a larger roasting pan and fill with water about halfway up the sides of the terrine. Cover the top with foil and place into the oven.

Bake for about 2 hours in the water bath or until the juices run clear when you pierce the meat with a skewer.

Remove from the oven. Weigh down the top with a cutting board and cans or place a smaller loaf pan on top with something inside as a weight. Allow to cool, (in it's water bath), then refrigerate.

This can be made ahead a day or two, the flavours seem to improve as it ages. It will keep about 1 week refrigerated.

Rosace à l'Orange, Upside-down Orange Cake

(1 x 8" cake)

Last month while I was making the Orange Tian for Daring Bakers, I kept thinking of this cake. This adaptation of a French dessert is also assembled upside-down. When inverted onto a serving plate it's a lovely looking cake topped with slices of fruit.

It's been a number of years since I made one and thought it would be nice to revisit.

I make a custard with cornstarch rather than the traditional pastry cream made with flour, and I make a buttermilk cake instead of spongecake; (I really dislike beating all those eggs over hot water). The fruit combination below is my personal preference. I imagine you could use mango, peaches, pineapple; really any fruit which slices well.

custard (can be made a day or two ahead)
2 egg yolks, (reserve the egg whites for the cake)
1/3 cup sugar
pinch of salt
3 tbsp cornstarch
2 cups milk
1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Whisk together the egg yolks, sugar, salt and cornstarch in a saucepan. Slowly whisk in the milk. Turn on the heat to medium and allow the mixture to come to a boil. Continue to boil for another 2 minutes, stirring constantly to prevent the bottom from burning.

Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla. Pour into a bowl  and cover the surface of the pudding with plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming as the custard cools; smooth it across the surface with your hands to remove any air pockets.

This custard will keep refrigerated for a couple of days.

buttermilk cake
2 cups cake flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup butter, (1 stick)
2/3 cup sugar
2 egg whites
1 egg
1 cup buttermilk
1 tbsp fresh squeezed lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Prepare an 8" cake pan by coating it with a thin layer of butter and cutting a piece of parchment paper to line the bottom of the pan. Set aside

Sift together the flour, baking powder and baking soda. Set aside.

Beat the butter as you slowly add the sugar. Continue to beat until the mixture is light and fluffy looking. Beat in the egg whites, and when those are well incorporated, beat in the remaining egg.

Add about 1/3 of the flour mixture and stir until well combined. Add half the buttermilk and the lemon juice and stir that in. Keep alternating with the flour and buttermilk until they are used up and everything is well combined. Beat for about a minute.

Pour the batter into the prepared 8" cake pan. Bake for about 35-40 minutes in the centre of the oven, until a toothpick or cake tester comes out clean.

Cool the cake in the pan.

fruit
2 large navel oranges
1 kiwi
2 large strawberries
1/4 cup orange liqueur

Remove the peels from the oranges and slice them into thin rounds. Peel the kiwi fruit and slice those into thin rounds too. Slice the strawberries. Carefully place the sliced fruit (picking out the nicest pieces) into a shallow dish. Sprinkle the orange liqueur evenly over the fruit and and set aside.

Chop up any leftover/remaining bits of fruit and set aside.

to finish the custard
2 tsp gelatin
2 tbsp hot water
1 cup heavy cream, cooled

Combine the gelatin and water, stir until the gelatin is dissolved and set aside.

Beat the heavy cream until it starts to stiffen. Slowly pour in the gelatin mixture as you continue to beat.

Fold in the custard and up to 2/3 cup of the chopped fruit.

to prepare the cake mold
almond or canola oil
sugar

Oil and then sugar a 7-8 cup round mold. I used a glass mixing bowl. Starting from then centre, place the fruit slices, forming a pleasing pattern, reserving the orange liqueur the fruit sat in. You can overlap the slices slightly if you wish.

Cover the fruit carefully with about half of the custard mixture.

Slice the cool cake horizontally and brush both cut sides generously with the orange liqueur mixture.

Place one cake layer over the custard; I like to place the cut side facing the custard mixture to make it easier for it to absorb some of the juices. Cover that with the remaining custard and then place the other cake layer (liqueur side facing the custard) down.

Find a plate which fits slightly inside the mold and weigh it down with a few full cans. Place in the refrigerator overnight, up to about 24 hours.

When it's ready to serve, fill a larger bowl with hot water and carefully dip the mold into it to warm up the bottom (to loosen the cake a bit) being careful not to allow any of the water to get into the top and onto the cake itself.

Carefully unmold onto a serving plate.

Daring Baker Challenge, March 2010, Orange Tian

(8-10 servings)

Last month I became a member of the Daring Kitchen, and by the end of the month I signed up for Daring Bakers. I may sign up for Daring Cooks as well at some point.

Each month recipes are revealed and then over 2000 bakers/cooks from around the world create one of those recipes in their kitchens. Substitutions are only allowed for such things as food allergies/intolerances or ingredients which are unavailable in certain regions.

Looking through the photos and comments members send in of their resulting recipe is quite intriguing; so many interpretations of the same thing. It's really quite wonderful, and what prompted me to join and give it a try.

This month's baker challenge was hosted by Jennifer from Chocolate Shavings and she proposed an Orange Tian, a dessert she had made for the first time a few months earlier at a cooking school in France.
We made everything from scratch, including the marmalade, and the finished dessert was quite tasty.

I decided not to mess around with cookie cutters because I don't have enough. I used a 9" spring-form instead which turned out to be a challenge. Although I left the dessert in the freezer for twice the amount of time, it clearly wasn't enough. After I carefully loosened the edges and inverted it onto the cake plate, it didn't hold it's shape. I nearly died laughing. If I make this again, I might increase the amount of gelatin to 2 teaspoons and I'll definitely leave it in the freezer longer.

The only changes I made (I also used one grapefruit for colour) was for the marmalade. I didn't bother with the pectin and the mixture gelled just fine without it. It was so delicious I regretted not making more of it. The recipe calls for the peel of 1 orange, and I used 3 (for a little extra) when I should have used up the peels from all of the oranges. There's always a next time.

Needless to say, I'm really looking forward to the next challenge.

Below, I have copied the recipes we were given:

Recipe Source: Recipe slightly adapted from Alain Ducasse‘s Cooking School in Paris, France

For the Pate Sablee:
Ingredients U.S. Imperial Metric Instructions for Ingredients
2 medium-sized egg yolks at room temperature
granulated sugar 6 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon; 2.8 oz; 80 grams
vanilla extract ½ teaspoon
Unsalted butter ¼ cup + 3 tablespoons; 3.5 oz; 100 grams ice cold, cubed
Salt 1/3 teaspoon; 2 grams
All-purpose flour 1.5 cup + 2 tablespoons; 7 oz; 200 grams
baking powder 1 teaspoon ; 4 grams

Directions:

Put the flour, baking powder, ice cold cubed butter and salt in a food processor fitted with a steel blade.

In a separate bowl, add the eggs yolks, vanilla extract and sugar and beat with a whisk until the mixture is pale. Pour the egg mixture in the food processor.

Process until the dough just comes together. If you find that the dough is still a little too crumbly to come together, add a couple drops of water and process again to form a homogenous ball of dough. Form into a disc, cover with plastic wrap and leave to rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Preheat your oven to 350 degree Fahrenheit.

Roll out the dough onto a lightly floured surface until you obtain a ¼ inch thick circle.

Using your cookie cutter, cut out circles of dough and place on a parchment (or silicone) lined baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes or until the circles of dough are just golden.

For the Marmalade:
Ingredients U.S. Imperial Metric Instructions for Ingredients
Freshly pressed orange juice ¼ cup + 3 tablespoons; 3.5 oz; 100 grams
1 large orange used to make orange slices
cold water to cook the orange slices
pectin 5 grams
granulated sugar: use the same weight as the weight of orange slices once they are cooked

Finely slice the orange. Place the orange slices in a medium-sized pot filled with cold water. Simmer for about 10 minutes, discard the water, re-fill with cold water and blanch the oranges for another 10 minutes.

Blanch the orange slices 3 times. This process removes the bitterness from the orange peel, so it is essential to use a new batch of cold water every time when you blanch the slices.

Once blanched 3 times, drain the slices and let them cool.

Once they are cool enough to handle, finely mince them (using a knife or a food processor).

Weigh the slices and use the same amount of granulated sugar . If you don’t have a scale, you can place the slices in a cup measurer and use the same amount of sugar.

In a pot over medium heat, add the minced orange slices, the sugar you just weighed, the orange juice and the pectin. Cook until the mixture reaches a jam consistency (10-15 minutes).

Transfer to a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and put in the fridge.

For the Orange Segments:
For this step you will need 8 oranges.

Cut the oranges into segments over a shallow bowl and make sure to keep the juice. Add the segments to the bowl with the juice.

[See YouTube video in the References section below for additional information on segmenting oranges.]

For the Caramel:
Ingredients U.S. Metric Imperial Instructions for Ingredients
granulated sugar 1 cup; 7 oz; 200 grams
orange juice 1.5 cups + 2 tablespoons; 14 oz; 400 grams

Place the sugar in a pan on medium heat and begin heating it.

Once the sugar starts to bubble and foam, slowly add the orange juice. As soon as the mixture starts boiling, remove from the heat and pour half of the mixture over the orange segments.

Reserve the other half of the caramel mixture in a small bowl — you will use this later to spoon over the finished dessert. When the dessert is assembled and setting in the freezer, heat the kept caramel sauce in a small saucepan over low heat until it thickens and just coats the back of a spoon (about 10 minutes). You can then spoon it over the orange tians.

[Tip: Be very careful when making the caramel — if you have never made caramel before, I would suggest making this step while you don’t have to worry about anything else. Bubbling sugar is extremely, extremely hot, so make sure you have a bowl of ice cold water in the kitchen in case anyone gets burnt!]

For the Whipped Cream:
Ingredients U.S. Metric Imperial Instructions for Ingredients
heavy whipping cream 1 cup; 7 oz; 200 grams
3 tablespoons of hot water
1 tsp Gelatine
1 tablespoon of confectioner's sugar
orange marmalade (see recipe above) 1 tablespoon

In a small bowl, add the gelatine and hot water, stirring well until the gelatine dissolves. Let the gelatine cool to room temperature while you make the whipped cream. Combine the cream in a chilled mixing bowl. Whip the cream using a hand mixer on low speed until the cream starts to thicken for about one minute. Add the confectioner sugar. Increase the speed to medium-high. Whip the cream until the beaters leave visible (but not lasting) trails in the cream, then add the cooled gelatine slowly while beating continuously. Continue whipping until the cream is light and fluffy and forms soft peaks. Transfer the whipped cream to a bowl and fold in the orange marmalade.

[Tip: Use an ice cold bowl to make the whipped cream in. You can do this by putting your mixing bowl, cream and beater in the fridge for 20 minutes prior to whipping the cream.]

Assembling the Dessert:

Make sure you have some room in your freezer. Ideally, you should be able to fit a small baking sheet or tray of desserts to set in the freezer.

Line a small tray or baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone sheet. Lay out 6 cookie cutters onto the parchment paper/silicone.

Drain the orange segments on a kitchen towel.

Have the marmalade, whipped cream and baked circles of dough ready to use.

Arrange the orange segments at the bottom of each cookie cutter. Make sure the segments all touch either and that there are no gaps. Make sure they fit snuggly and look pretty as they will end up being the top of the dessert. Arrange them as you would sliced apples when making an apple tart.

Once you have neatly arranged one layer of orange segments at the bottom of each cookie cutter, add a couple spoonfuls of whipped cream and gently spread it so that it fills the cookie cutter in an even layer. Leave about 1/4 inch at the top so there is room for dough circle.

Using a butter knife or small spoon, spread a small even layer of orange marmalade on each circle of dough.

Carefully place a circle of dough over each ring (the side of dough covered in marmalade should be the side touching the whipping cream). Gently press on the circle of dough to make sure the dessert is compact.

Place the desserts to set in the freezer to set for 10 minutes.

Using a small knife, gently go around the edges of the cookie cutter to make sure the dessert will be easy to unmold. Gently place your serving plate on top of a dessert (on top of the circle of dough) and turn the plate over. Gently remove the cookie cutter, add a spoonful of caramel sauce and serve immediately.

Resources:
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-tian.htm (An article about the dessert known as tian.)
YouTube link on how to segment an orange: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZG5mcEEBlcI
To learn more about Pectin: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pectin
What to substitute for Pectin: http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/Dictionary/P/Pectin-6222.aspx