Reminiscing

This week as my eldest prepares for his final primary years exhibition I have been thinking about how quickly the years have gone by since he was born 12 years ago.

We were living in London then in a great flat on the river in Putney.  Right at the very spot where the famous Oxbridge Head of the River rowing race takes place.  The rowing houses where right next door to us.  It seems like an eon ago yet only yesterday at the same time.

Since then we have moved countries & cities so many times and it seems in every city we have added another little lovely into our life.

We are in Melbourne now and loving it with our 5 boys.

Moving is so stressful and not something I actively look forward to anymore in the way I used to- new city, new adventures and all that.....is it that I am getting old?

Whatever it is I am just very very thankful for our 5 little lads and my life just as it is- chaos and all!

Yesterday in amongst my  thoughts I had a hankering for a terrine. 

I love terrines.

Sooooo i got to work and made one.

I didn't have a recipe but the principle is pretty simple.

I had some lovely fresh in season asparagus bought from the market and that was the inspiration.

You can play as much or as little with terrine as you like.  Some of the loveliest ones I have eaten are vegetarian but yesterday I wanted a Pork & Veal number.  I also LOVE pork!

 PORK, VEAL, PISTACHIO & ASPARAGUS TERRINE.

you will need:

900g pork & veal mince

700g streaky bacon 

5 eggs (one raw the others I hard boiled and popped in the centre of the terrine)

2 or 3 cloves garlic

good bunch of fresh sage

3-4 juniper berries

salt

fennel seeds

4-5 asparagus stems

good handful of shelled pistachio nuts

METHOD:

•  in a mortar and pestle add fennel seeds, garlic, salt, juniper berries and sage and pound to a paste.
• add this paste to the mince with the raw egg  & pistachios and squeeze thru your hands to incorporate the mix well.  (tip: any leftover mix can be wrapped into puff pastry to make the most delish sausage rolls EVER!)
• then line the terrine dish with the bacon strips as in pic below so the strips hang over the edge- these get tucked over the top later ( a loaf tin will work just as well)

• now add some of the mince mix- press it down well and then add the asparagus stems.  I added my boiled eggs lined across the terrine here too- skip this if you don't want eggs in it.  I just thought they would look pretty!
• keep adding mince, asparagus till terrine full. press down firmly.
• then place rashers across the top to seal in mince- like this

• now pop terrine lid on (or foil if using a loaf tin) and put the terrine in a deep roasting dish.  Pour water it into the roasting dish so it comes half way up the terrine .  Place in the oven at 180c for about an hour.
• take it out of the oven and let it cool down.
• now place weights onto the terrine and place in fridge for 2 hours or so to cool and set.
• take out of fridge and upturn onto a plate. it should look something like this

Now you can slice it and enjoy!

I served mine with an orange, fennel & cucumber salad 

......and some apple & rhubarb relish on the side.

It looked beautiful on the plate & was devoured very quickly! 

And we were listening to the MAGNIFICENTLY TALENTED Mr. Andrew Bird accompanied by Martin Dosh on Drums.....

ENJOY!