Potato terrine, the ultimate fine dining side to any meat.

This has got to be my favourite accompaniment to a special dinner at home. It’s a bit of a fiddle and takes a while to prepare but it really is a labour of love, the end result is an expensive looking, beautiful and tasty side to any meat or fish. Your going to need a killer sauce and your meat needs to be perfectly cooked and seasoned or this accompaniment will steal the show.

This recipe will make 4 terrines

4 large potatoes , I find maris piper potatoes are the best because they have a dry floury texture and don’t leak to much moisture out when it come to pressing, also the marinade sticks to them really well.
100ml of full cream
3 garlic cloves bashed with the flat of a knife until split open
1 sage leaf
Parmesan grated
Knob of butter
Salt and pepper to season

Pre heat the oven to 175 degrees.

Pour the cream into a sauce pan and heat gently, don’t let it boil. Add the bay leaf, a pinch of salt and pepper and the garlic cloves. Heat through until tiny bubbles start to appear around the sides of the pan and remove from the heat.

Peel the potatoes and slice them finely, making sure they are all the same thickness (roughly 2-3mm). If you have a round mould slice them into circles, I have a square mould so I’ll be slicing them square.

Sieve the cream mixture into a deep bowl and add the slices of potato, stir them with your hands until all are coated and then leave to rest.

While the potatoes are marinating, grease the sides of the two moulds and place them onto a heat proof dish on top of grease proof paper.

Layer the potato slices into the moulds making sure to reach into all four corners, layer evenly pressing gently down to feel hollow spots. Season every other layer with a pinch of salt and pepper and finally, pour a desert spoon sized amount of the remaining cream mixture over each terrine.

Place on the middle shelf in the oven and bake for 50 minutes.

Once cooked, remove from the oven and allow to cool for 20 mins.

Using a palette knife lift the terrines in their moulds onto a plate topped with grease proof paper, cover the terrines with another sheet of grease proof paper.

Place the terrines in the fridge with a weight on top of them, I’m using two jars full of water and allow to cool and set for 4 hours.

Pre heat the oven to 200 degrees once your 15 minutes from plating up the rest of your dish.

Whilst the oven is heating, remove the terrines from the fridge. Take the weight off and remove the grease proof paper top. Carefully lift the mould off with your fingers pressing gently down on all four corners of the potato.

With a palette knife lift and slide the terrine onto a fresh piece of grease proof paper and transfer to an oven proof dish.

Finely slice a knob of butter and spread out on top of the terrine, next grate fresh Parmesan on top of the butter.

Place in the center of the oven for 13 minutes until golden brown, then remove and stand for 3 minutes.

That’s it, serve with your chosen meat or fish, I served mine with fillet of lamb, cauliflower purée and rosemary jus.

Starter of leek and potato soup.

I’m going to kick things off with this simple starter (or main) of a winter warming classic leek and potato soup, this recipe contains restaurant tricks with simple home cooking to get the best out of this classic home cooked dish.

With this being my first post, please let me know if I’m too vague, although I would like to add that I’m not big on weights and measures. Cooking is definitely about the senses and I try to use those to perfect my dishes.

This soup will feed four as a starter with some crusty bread

Ingredients:
3 leeks, washed and only white flesh, discard the green, fine chopped
4 medium potatoes, peeled diced
1 large garlic clove, peeled finely chopped
Dessert spoon of creme fraiche
Chicken or vegetable stock preferably home made but stock cube will do, just enough to cover the veg in the pan
Salt and ground black pepper to season
Olive oil
35g of good quality butter

Heat a nob of butter in a large non stick sauce pan (enough to coat the leeks) over a medium heat and add the leeks and garlic, stir until coated and cover.

Allow the leeks to soften, not colour. When the leeks have become translucent and reduced by half add the potatoes and season generously. Finally cover all vegetables with the stock. Simmer under a lid for 20-25 mins stirring occasionally, until potatoes are very soft.

Remove the lid and allow to cool

Pour the mixture into a blender and blitz (in batches if you need to) until totally smooth. While the blender is off, add a generous knob of fridge cold butter and blitz a final time – a little chefs trick to get the soup super shiny and velvety smooth.

Pour the soup into a fresh pan and re heat gently.

Once hot add the creme fraiche and stir until dissolved.

This is the point where your going to want to perfect the seasoning.

Ladle into warm bowls and don’t be shy with the bread! Luckily I live in France and my local Boulangerie is pretty amazing so great bread is always on hand

There are a good few ways to finish this soup, today a simple drizzle of olive oil was perfect for me but other alternatives could be:

Finely chopped crispy bacon and sage infused cream

A simple light grating of Parmesan

A handful of chopped leaks pan fried until crispy in butter a scattered over the top

I also love a light drizzle of truffle oil!