Pork, Apricot and Pistachio Terrine

Here is a really fancy looking dish that is pretty simple to make. I took this recipe from the BBC Good Food website. Terrines are one of those dishes that look really impressive and are perfect as a dinner party starter as you should make them the day before to let it set, meaning you have one less course to worry about on the night. When your guests arrive and see this at the table, they'll immediately start to salivate and know that they're in for a good meal. Also, any left-overs will keep for a few days and make a versatile, mouth-watering snack for any time of the day. I like to cut up a few slices and serve on toasted bread after a night out, it also goes down well with a nice pint of ale.

It's the first time I've ever made a terrine and I was a bit nervous but I can confirm that it is way easier than it looks.

 

Ingredients:
- 300g tenderloin pork
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- a handful of thyme
- 2 tbsp brandy
- 300g rindless streaky bacon
- 1 kg sausage meat
- a handful of fresh parsley
- a handful of fresh chives
- 100g shelled pistachios
- 1 dozen apricots
- cornichons and baguette to serve

Dice up the pork into a mixing bowl with the garlic, brandy and a few sprigs of thyme and leave that to marinate overnight in the fridge.

The next day, add the sausage meat, pistachios, parsley and chives. Season with salt and pepper and mix well. Don't overdo the salt though as the sausage meat will likely have been salted already and the bacon from the lining will also add flavour. If you want to check the seasoning, fry off a teaspoon in a pan to check it - unless you like to eat raw sausage meat.

 Take a 1kg terrine mould and butter it. At the bottom, add a sprig of thyme, a few apricots and have a dozen pistachios. Remember that this will be the top of your terrine as it gets turned over at the end so try to keep it looking nice.
Layer the strips of bacon along the inside of the dish and ensure there is about half of each strip hanging over the edge.

Add about half the terrine mixture into the mould and the add a layer of apricots. Fill with the rest of the mixture and pack in it firmly. Wrap the overhanging strips of bacon around the mixture tightly. Wrap the mould tightly with silver foil twice and put it into a baking dish half-filled with water and bake in a pre-heated oven at 180C for an hour.
Let this cool down and then chill it in a fridge overnight, with something flat and heavy on top of it to pack it down even more for a firm texture. As a tip, I took a plastic container that was slightly larger than the mould and put a lot of jam and sauce jars inside to weigh it down. If you don't do this, not only will the texture not be right, the terrine won't have a flat base to sit properly on when you turn it over!

When you take the terrine out of the fridge and unwrap it, you'll see a layer of lard that has built up around the edge. The easiest way to release it is to put the mould in a container of warm water for about a minute. You can then turn the entire thing over onto the serving board. Slice up a baguette and toast lightly, garnish with cornichons.