pork terrine

terrine and pate have been on my list of things to make since the new year. a week off work with plenty of late breakfasts and light lunches was the perfect opportunity to tick at least one of these off.

i decided on the terrine and cobbled together a recipe based on the things i remembered to buy when we were sorting out provisions for our week away. the result was pretty good and we both wished i’d made this on day one rather than towards the end of the week. still, our short time left in scotland gave us a great excuse to have extra-large portions, on the rosemary fougasse that i also made.

pork terrine (serves 8-10)

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 large onion, roughly chopped

6 cloves garlic, roughly chopped

50ml brandy

500g pork mince (don’t get a low-fat version)

250g organic streaky bacon rashers, chopped roughly

150g pork liver, diced into 1cm pieces

3 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped

2 eggs, beaten

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

preheat the oven to 140c.

heat the oil and gently fry the onion until it turns brown (around 10 minutes) then add the garlic and cook for another 2-3 minutes. add the brandy, remove from the heat and leave to cool.

mix the pork mince, bacon and liver together. add the onion/garlic mix, parsley, eggs, salt and pepper and mix together well.

put the mix into a large oiled loaf tin (a 1kg size), smooth the top of the terrine and cover with a piece of lightly oiled foil. put the tin into a deep-sided dish. pour around it enough boiling water to reach two-thirds of the way up the side of the tin. bake for 90 minutes. test it is ready with a skewer – it should come out clean.

remove the terrine tin from the dish of hot water and leave to cool for half an hour. put a couple of filled cans (or a large bottle of olive oil, lying down on its side) on top of the terrine (which should still be covered in foil). when the terrine is cool, place it in the fridge overnight, with the weights still in place.

to serve, you can invert the terrine onto a dish or just serve it from the tin.