the concept

the concept

The idea came from some friends, Lucy Jason & George, who were back home briefly & raved about a chef in London's East End...http://fridaynightakeout.blogspot.com/
I thought it was such a good idea, the best thing to do would be to bring it to life here where I live in New Zealand.
So...I'm also a freelance chef, each week I cook a different dish, depending on what's in season, what's good now, or just how I feel. Lately I've been cooking a lot of my mother's dishes

Dish descriptions will be posted here online early in the week, recipes later over the weekend, with links to:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Pabloskitchen/130053437081945 & http:/twitter.com/#!/pabloskitchen

As I play with the idea through the week, the dish maybe evolves a little, but that's half the fun. Meals will be priced at $20, incl delivery & orders can be made anytime up to roughly lunchtime Thursday, which is when I go shopping. Simply get in touch, email or txt, you can order as many as you like!
Afternoon Friday I'll deliver dinnerboxes warm/cooling/cold, locally in & around my base, which admittedly does change a bit - currently I'm north of Auckland, living by the beach in Mangawhai (just let me know where you are when you get in touch).

tel: 021 676 123
email: pabloskitchen@yahoo.com

I've recently included an email subscription option at the bottom of this page &, while I have no idea how it works, the hope is that it automatically sends to subscribers email notifications each week about the dish...so, sign up!

disclaimer:
From time to time, when the wanderlust takes over, I hit the road & disappear in search of dishes, tastes & ingredients elsewhere. Then this blog takes on a different kind of persona; a travelling recipe book of notes, pics & stories, ideas to inspire & for me to return to, once I get back home.

Sunday, 27 November 2011

recipe: terrine, braised pork & du puy lentils

in terms of preparation, this week's terrine recipe is much the same as the last one in that, once cooked, your ingredients are simply placed inside a lined terrine dish (or something of a similar shape) with stock poured over the top at the end to fill any gaps, before gladwrap is folded over & it sits, weighted, in the fridge overnight to set into shape.
this week i've used du puy lentils, cooked separately in stock & added at the final stage, mixedGENTLY in with the onions & meat, to bind.
as an extra detail, inside the gladwrap that lines the terrine dish, i've layered blanched savoy cabbage leaves, which overhang the sides during the filling process & are folded over the top at the end. this creates a casing which i rather like, helping to hold it all together once sliced, but also offering a wonderful colour contrast to the richly textured meats & dark round lentils inside.

so then, briefly, cooking the fillings:

>onions/garlic/carrot/baythyme/stonedprunes/peppercorns/baconhocks/csabaiorkhulensausage: cover with water (or chicken stock) & simmer for several hours. i put mine in the crock pot & turn it off that evening.
>in a fine sieve, strain the stock into a ready saucepan, put it on a medium flame (reduce it by half. cool it at that point, to pour over terrine filling before closing); with the meat, the sausage should remain whole, the ham should at this point fall from the bone, leave as intact as you can; discard the bones, fatty tissue, skin, bay leaves & herby stalky bits
>dupuylentils/stock: lentils in a saucepan, quickly swipe a ladleful or so of the reducing stock + an h2o top up to cover lentils if necessary. simmer for 20-30 mins, till they reach the not-crunchy-but-firm, firm to the bite you might say (aka al-dente) stage. drain them.
>combine lentils/meat/vegGENTLY & add to the terrine & proceed as for the last terrine
(followthislink)

tips:
*think about the cross-section effect of your layering. i usually julienne some carrot, chives, baby leeks if i can get them, spring onions are pretty cool on the slice, but also are different sizes of meat, larger or smaller widths of sausage. make a pattern! what the heck
*i used a layer of blanched (to soften, also to bring out the colour) savoy cabbage leaves, but spinach is possible, really thinly sliced lengths of carrot, roast capsicum, or bacon, proscuitto...


to serve: 
flash it in a hot pan for just a mo, flip it, the same, or nuke it for 30 if that works for you; 
on the side a choice chutney, my current fav is the quince chutney i made last summer; 
to drink, pinot gris 2008 from millars vineyard in mangawhai was outstanding on a sunny saturday, full&warm&spicy it brought a mellow&golden depth to the richly flavoured meats.

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