This is my favourite Christmas terrine, pistachios and pork work perfectly together and the addition of apricot adds a lovely sweetness to the recipe. This is worth the effort and is relatively straightforward to make
Serves
8
Cooking time
2 hours
Ingredients:
300g Pork tenderloin fillet, trimmed of fat and diced
2 Cloves garlic, crushed
2 Sprigs of thyme
2 tbsp Brandy
250g Dry-cured rindless streaky bacon
1kg Sausagemeat – good quality or use sausages, skinned
A small bunch of parsley, chopped
A small bunch of chives, chopped
100g Shelled pistachios
8-10 Dried apricots
Cornichons to serve
Method:
1. Put the pork, garlic, 1 thyme sprig and brandy in a bowl. Cover and leave to marinate overnight in the fridge.
2. Heat the oven to 180C. Butter a 1kg terrine mould or loaf tin. Put the remaining thyme sprig in the bottom and line it with overlapping strips of bacon, leaving any extra hanging over the edge. Loosen the sausagemeat with a fork and add it to the bowl with the marinated pork and mix well. Stir through the parsley, chives and pistachios and season well. Pinch off a small piece and fry until cooked. Taste and adjust the seasoning accordingly.
3. Pach the terrine with half of the pork mixture and lay the apricots in a row down the centre. Pack the remaining pork on the top. Flatten and stretch over the bacon. Cover with buttered foil and wrap the whole terrine in a double layer of cling film.
4. Put the terrine in a roasting tin half-filled with boiling water and bake for 1 hour. Cool and chill overnight. You can press the terrine as it cools by placing a board on top and weighting it down with a couple of tins. This will give a firmer texture.
5. Release the terrine by dipping it briefly in hot water and turning it out onto a plate. There will be some jelly aroud the terrine – you can remove this by scraping it off if you wish. Serve with cornichon