Salmon terrine with anchovies butter

We have funny friends, did you know that? Friends who come up with these crazy ideas…. And it seems that our new kitchen is sort of bringing it out in all of them. It could have something to do with the fact that everyone all of a sudden wants us to cook dinner, and hey, it’s even more fun if there is a challenge attached to it. So P. and M., friends we have known for a little over 20 years had decided that Tom and I should do a pressure test.

Checking the recipe again!

If you’ve watched masterchef Australia (2nd season) this recipe might be familiair to you. it’s the salmon terrine that was used in one of the pressure tests. For those not in the know, a pressure test, is where the cooks that were the least successful in that round need to recreate an existing dish within a certain timeframe. usually the dishes are not simple, but require some sort of skill one way or the other. Obviously, we are no masterchef’s, so we bend the rules a little bit to suit our needs. The rule was that the recipes as well as the ingredients would be given to us by friday. So we had the saturday to get extra stuff if needed. I had to work on saturday, so the cooking was on sunday.

Turning the terrine out; le moment supreme

We had three recipes to make; one the salmon terrine with hazelnut salad, two; the drunken chicken recipe from Alvin, three; the roasted pear cake from Neil Perry. The terrine was really not difficult to be honest, it just requires a certain amount of time to cool and set. But once that is done, it is really very straightforward. We were disappointed in the drunken chicken recipe as that was just not to our taste. The dessert however was totally delicious so two out of tree ain’t bad!

Plating up

In the recipe I list the avocado mousse which you do not see on the plate. I did make it, but then I forgot to plate it up… Duh.. The terrine was a big success. Lovely taste of the anchovies butter combined with the salmon. As you can see by looking at the photos I forgot to make the butter layers really thin in the beginning so those are a bit too thick. Paired with some crusty bread this is a real winner and one that will go on our list of party recipes!

I don’t have a good photo of the roasted pear cake but I will def be making that one again so that will come up later!

Smoked salmon terrine

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Prep time	1 hour, 20 minutes
Meal type	Appetizer
Misc	Pre-preparable, Serve Cold
Website	Masterchef Australia

Ingredients

• 700g sliced (smoked salmon)
• 400g unsalted butter (at roomtemperature)
• 1 lemon (rind finely grated)
• 200g white anchovies (drained and pat dried with paper towel)
• 2 slices (pane di casa bread)

Hazelnut salad

• 60 ml olive oil
• 1/4 cup hazelnuts
• 30ml hazelnut oil
• 1 teaspoon chestnut honey
• 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 15ml sherry vinegar
• 1/4 cup baby endive hearts (We used little gem)
• 2 tablespoons chervil leaves (picked)
• 2 tablespoons baby basil (snipped)
• 2 tablespoons baby parsley (snipped)
• 1 tablespoon red kale (snipped)

Avocado cream

• 1 avocado
• 15ml lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

Directions

. Preheat oven to 180˚C. Trim brown fat from each slice of smoked salmon. Square off long edge of each piece. 2. Process butter in food processor until pale and thick, add rind, anchovies, season to taste and process to combine. 3. Grease the inside of a 1 litre capacity terrine mould with oil, line with plastic wrap, with at least 6cm overhang on all sides. Cut a piece of foam to fit inside the terrine mould. Cover it with aluminum foil and set aside. 4. Cover the base of the terrine with one layer of smoked salmon. Using a crank spatula and a straight edged wooden spoon spread a thin even layer of butter. Continue the layers, alternating salmon and butter mixture until you have reached just over half way of the mould. Cover the terrine with plastic wrap and gently press down, place the foil-covered foam into the terrine and weight down with a few food cans. Freeze for 30 minutes, transfer to the fridge for a further 30 minutes. 5. To make the avocado cream, blend together avocado, lemon juice and oil using a stick blender, until smooth. 6. To make the hazelnut salad, Place hazelnuts on an oven tray and roast until browned. Transfer to a clean towel and rub to remove skins. Heat 15ml olive oil in a frying pan over high heat. Add hazelnuts, cook until golden. Place remaining olive oil, hazelnut oil, honey, mustard and vinegar in a bowl, whisk to combine. Add the hazelnuts to the vinaigrette mixture. Toss salad leaves through the dressing to lightly coat. 7. Heat grill pan over high heat, drizzle bread with olive oil and cook on each side until golden. 8. To serve, invert terrine mould onto a chopping board and slice. Serve with a spoon of avocado mousse, hazelnut salad and grilled bread.

Related Posts:

• Artichoke and feta tarts – DHSP challenge #7
• Griddled courgette carpaccio with chickpea salsa
• How not to cook risotto – cooking club!
• Carrot cake
• Cauliflower fennel gratin

Photography ; Liren from Kitchen Confidante

First of all my apologies for not sending the results of challenge nr. 7 through earlier but due to busy schedules it came a little later then promised! But it’s here now! The voting of the jury was not entirely unanimous but the majority of us thought this image of Liren from Kitchen Confidante hit the mark of the challenge best. The image looks fresh and inviting and the colors really pop. We felt it came closest to the original in terms of feel and look.

Liren if you can send me your address I will make sure you’ll receive one of the books as promised!

Below you can find an overview of all entries for this challenge and make sure you visit each one of them as they all have good tips and notes on how they took the images and what went into recreating the photo as best as they could. And ofcourse I do hope you’ll all be there to join in the 8th challenge which is a tough one, that’s for sure!

Find out about challenge number 8 here.

Related Posts:

• Apple and caramel dumplings, I think
• Rumpsteak or potatoes; Donna Hay challenge nr. 8
• Seasons by Donna Hay – book review
• Artichoke and feta tarts – DHSP challenge #7
• DHSPC #6 – results and exciting news!

UPDATE!
Due to the slightly more complicated challenge this month the deadline is extended for one whole month. Get your entries in before end of May now! And remember; it’s not all about having the same props. Mood and atmosphere is more important. I don’t think anyone would have such a lovely rack to place the potatoes in but that is all good! Just be creative!

A meaty challenge! Photo by Ben Dearnley

I realized that after having done 7 Donna Hay challenges; we’ve done vegetarian, we’ve done sweets and we’ve done sandwiches but what we have not done before is anything really meaty. So when the latest issue of Donna Hay’s magazine arrived and I started drooling over the Argentinian pages I figured it would be perfect for this time of year! Ok, depending on where you live it might still be a little too cold for doing a full barbecue but maybe the weather is kind and we can eat outside. Fire up the grill and make this gorgeous salted rump steak. In the magazine these steaks are served with delicious roasted potatoes with chimichurri sauce and since it’s always good to have a vegetarian alternative you actually get to pick this month from two different recipes!

Roasted potatoes. Photo by Ben Dearnley

Now is that a luxury or what? Both photos are quite stylish and will probably give you some challenge in terms of props, lighting and placement but that is what this is all about. Last month was fairly straight forward, so I thought to mix it up with something a little more challenging for the more seasoned photographers out there but if you’re just starting out, don’t be afraid to tackle this too. Whatever happens, it will definitely teach you something.

The photography on both these shots is done by one of my favorites; Ben Dearnley, styling is done by Steve Pearce. I love the styling in both these shots as it give me a sense of summer but in a rustic kind of way. The colors are dark but still vibrant and the food jumps out at you. I can’t wait to make both of these (you don’t have to choose, you can make them both if you want!) but since I am currently without kitchen I could not taste test either of these recipes but I have the feeling they will be all right!

Enter your link below!

Since there had been some complaints about the quality of  my scans (rightfuly so!) I have found the originals on Ben Dearnley’s site so that looks a whole lot better! I’ll try to make sure the quality of the photos is good enough for you to be able to see what you need to do.

You can find all the rules for the Donna Hay Challenge on the special DHSPC page on top of the menu.

As usual the rules are very straightforward;

• recreate the original images to the best of your ability
• write a blog post about your experience and showcase the photos that you took
• Include some notes on how you took the photos and how you tackled the styling
• link back to this post
• Deadline for entry if April 30th.
• Read the rest of the rules on the DHSPC page
• Judging will be done by Jenn from jenncuisine, Meeta from What’s for Lunch Honey, Kay from KayoticKitchen and myself

Entries are open for everyone. No need to let me know if you want to join. Once you’ve made your post include the link in the linkytool below. It will need to be approved by me first so you will not see it before that.

Salted rump steak

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Serves	4
Prep time	1 hour, 10 minutes
Cook time	7 minutes
Total time	1 hour, 17 minutes
Meal type	Main Dish
From magazine	Donna Hay magazine

Ingredients

• 1kg rump steak (cut into large pieces)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 cup rocksalt (300 gr)
• cracked black pepper

Directions

Thread the steak onto metal skewers and rub with olive oil. Place on a baking tray and cover completely with the rock salt. Place in the fridge for 1 hour. Wipe with absorbent paper to remove the rock salt and sprinkle with pepper. Heat a char-grill pan or BBQ over high heat. Add the skewers and cook for 7 minutes each side for medium rare or until cooked to your liking. Serve with the chimichurri saue (see below)

Roasted potatoes with chimichurri sauce

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Serves	4-6
Prep time	20 minutes
Cook time	45 minutes
Total time	1 hours, 5 minutes
Meal type	Side Dish
From magazine	Donna Hay magazine

Ingredients

• 1,5kg large sebago (starchy) potatoes (peeled and chopped)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• sea salt
• cracked black pepper
• 100g wild rocket (arugula) leaves (to serve)

Chimichurri sauce

• 1/3 cup flat leaf parsley (chopped)
• 1 tablespoon oregano (chopped)
• 2 teaspoons rosemary (chopped)
• 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon dried chilli flakes
• 1 clove garlic (crushed)
• 1 bay leaf
• 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• sea salt
• cracked black pepper

Directions

To make the chimichurri sauce, place the parsley, oregano, rosemary, paprika, chilli flakes, garlic, bay leaf, vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper in a bowl and mix to combine. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 220 C (425 F). Place the potato in a large saucepan of salted cold water over high heat and bring to the boil. Cook for 10 minutes or until the potato is just tender. Drain, return the potato to the pan and cook for 1 minte to remove excess moisture. Shake the pan to fluff the potato. Place on a baking tray, drizzle with the olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper and roast for 40-45 minutes or until crisp and golden. Serve the potatoes with the chimichurri sauce and rocket leaves.

Related Posts:

• Donna Hay styling and photography challenge #1
• Artichoke and feta tarts – DHSP challenge #7
• Bruschetta with arugulapesto – DHSPC #6
• DHSPC #6 – results and exciting news!
• Sage and prosciutto corn cakes – Donna Hay Styling and photo Challenge #4

My version

While I think some of the last couple of challenges where… well quite challenging… I think I may have picked a very easy one this time..:) So I would almost say that there is no reason not to participate this month!

For the new Donna Hay styling and photography challenge, number 7 already, I picked a recipe from the most recent Donna Hay magazine nr. 61. Photography is by William Meppem and Styling by Steve Pearce. For the past couple of months I have gone for dark and moody shots (to fit the season), rather then the signature Donna Hay style which is light and airy. I was in the mood for spring however and when I saw this gorgeous shot I could not resist.

The original by Wiliam Meppem ; the colors should be more like mine though. Blame it on the scan!

Smaller but better version of the original by William Meppem

So this is a fairly simple challenge, certainly compared to the ones we had previously but maybe it’s good to throw in an easy one for a change, to give you all some room to breath. It does not use a lot of props other then baking paper and a baking tray so in terms of prop shopping it’s easy too. I’ll show you a shot of my setup as well, so you have an idea on how I lighted the scene. Basically I had daylight coming from behind the subject and from the left with fill in with a large silver reflector from the right.

Setup for the shot

The light on this particular day was soft and cloudy so perfect really for a shadowless (more or less) photo. You could even go as far and place all the peas on the same spot but that was maybe a bit stretching it, so I left it the way I liked it. I also did have yellow tomatoes but for me that is not a huge difference so use whatever tomatoes you have.

Left mine, right the original

Now on to more pressing matters; we have a fantastic judging panel in place for the new challenge! I’m proudly presenting the following three awesome foodbloggers and awesome photographers/foodstylists.

Kay from the famous Kayotic Kitchen and a fellow Dutchie is a great photographer and has the amazing ability to do step by step shots for each and every single dish she makes. Hats of from me there!

Meeta from the equally famous What’s for Lunch Honey needs no further introduction if you come here more often. She’s not only a dear friend but also a very talented food photographer and foodstylist.

Then last but not least we have Jenn from Jenncuisine. Jenn has been participating regularly already from the first challenge and has won three times! So to avoid her winning anything else I thought I’d ask her to be on the judging panel..lol.. . She’s a great photographer and stylist as well.

So with that our judging panel is complete. The judges themselves are allowed to take part in the challenge as well, but they cannot win obviously. But it’s still fun to participate so didn’t want to take that away from anyone. Enter your links via the below Linky Tool!

Hungry yet?

You can find all the rules for the challenge on the special DHSPC page. As for the logo; I previously used the official Donna Hay logo but I was kindly notified that that is not allowed, so I changed it a bit. If you have the old logo, please use the new one from now on..

The Donna Hay team has kindly offered to share some wonderful prizes with us so the winner of the new challenge will receive a beautiful Donna Hay cookbook. it’s one of the two latest ones. I haven’t received them yet but will share that later as well.

Once the winner is decided upon  by the judges I will ask the winner for his or her homeaddress to ship the book to.

So now all that leaves me is to share the recipe with you here and it’s a delicious recipe for sure, so if all else fails you still have these delicious tarts!

As usual; dietary changes are allowed!

Artichoke and feta tarts with tomato salad

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Serves	4
Prep time	10 minutes
Cook time	15 minutes
Total time	25 minutes
Meal type	Appetizer, Lunch, Side Dish
From magazine	Donna Hay magazine

Ingredients

• 1 sheet store bought puff pastry (thawed)
• 250g feta (crumbled)
• 4 artichoke hearts (marinated and halved)
• 1 egg (lightly beaten)
• 100g mixed cherry tomatoes (halved)
• 120g frozen peas (thawed)
• 1/4 cup mint leaves
• olive oil (for drizzling)
• white balsamic vinegar (for drizzling)

Directions

Preheat oven to 200 C. Cut the pastry into 4 squares and score a 1 cm border around each square. Place the square on a baking tray lined with non stick baking paper and top with feta and artichoke. Brush the pastry borers with the egg and bake for 12-14 minutes or until golden

Place the tomato, peas and mint in a medium bowl, drizzle with olive oil and white balsamic and toss to combine. Top the tarts with the tomatoe salad to serve. Serves 4

Note

This is  really simple and delicious recipes that - at least it does for me - gives me a spring feeling!

Related Posts:

• Donna Hay styling and photography challenge #1
• Lemon Sour Bundt Cake – DHSPC #2
• Rumpsteak or potatoes; Donna Hay challenge nr. 8
• Sage and prosciutto corn cakes – Donna Hay Styling and photo Challenge #4
• Greek salad

My fav entryby Jenncuisine

That was a bit more tricky this challenge then you would think based on the photo right? Lol… This months challenge has been a pretty good one and while the recipe itself was simple enough the execution turned out to be a little more challenging then anticipated. I think ultimately most people struggled with the same thing; the angle of the various props (and the right props too) and the way those look in size compared to the bruschetta.

Another of my favorites from Kankana

I love all the creative solutions that people came up with and I think everyone has done a great job. Check out all the entries below!

Now on to more exciting announcements; I have two…

First; I was contacted by the Donna Hay team that they noticed our challenge and were really pleased with our efforts and results. To support the challenge they have graciously offered to supply us with a couple of the latest books from Donna. They will be shipped to me soon so that means from next month onwards we will have an actual price to share for whoever did the best!

Secondly; sofar I’ve been either relying on my own opinion or on the likes an image got, but I think both are flawed. Even though this challenge is all about the exercise and not about the winning, it makes sense to ask a couple of people to do the judging together with me. Just so it becomes a little less subjective! The judges will be communicated hopefully when I reveal the 7th challenge.

And third; the new challenge is an awesome one with a spring feeling and possibly more of a traditional Donna look. That to me would be brilliant for the beginning of spring. I’m making it on Friday so the post should be up as usual on the 3rd of the month!

Thanks again for everyone who has entered in the challenge this month! You’re all winners to me!

Related Posts:

• Bruschetta with arugulapesto – DHSPC #6
• Rumpsteak or potatoes; Donna Hay challenge nr. 8
• Donna Hay styling and photography challenge #1
• Artichoke and feta tarts – DHSP challenge #7
• DHSPC #4 december results