Salmon terrine – a real Masterchef pressure test!
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!
Salmon terrine
Prep Time: 1 hr and 20 mins
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.
Recipe from Masterchef Australia
Appetizer
Asian
Bread
Breakfast
Desserts & other sweets
Healthy
Bravo Simone… you’ve made it through the next round
hehehe..
Beautifully layered terrine… and I am waiting patiently for your dessert post
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Simone (junglefrog) — May 15th, 2012 at 14:07
Ah yes, that dessert… Mmmm, maybe I can make it again this week… Too be continued!
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Hi Simone, I remember the terrine from Masterchef! And I remember that I thought: must be delicious, want to make it! Because now I have the recipee I will! Don’t know when, but i will!
)
(maybe after following your workshop foodphotography
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Simone (junglefrog) — May 15th, 2012 at 14:07
It’s really good Brenda and hey, there will come a time when there is a date that works!
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OOOh love love this. A masterclass test I would have loved to have joined you. What a great idea and I adore the pics of the concentrating you ;o)
I think you passed with flying colors!
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Simone (junglefrog) — May 15th, 2012 at 14:06
Haha… Thanks Meeta! The chicken was not so successful though so not sure if that still counts as passing.. But how fun it would have been with you there!
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Gorgeous terrine! I remember this all the way back in season 2 I think you would make a fab contestant on Masterchef Simone!
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Simone (junglefrog) — May 15th, 2012 at 14:04
O no, I don’t think so at all Peter! I would die of sheer pressure I think plus I am not nearly as good as most of the contestants! I need a whole day to make a salmon terrine where they get 1,5 hr..
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Great job! This terrine looks marvelous. Perfect with a salad.
Cheers,
Rosa
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Simone (junglefrog) — May 15th, 2012 at 19:00
It is indeed perfect with a salad and I loved the little salad that we made with the terrine.Gives it that little bit of freshness that it needs!
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Wow, I have to say your terrine is a masterpiece…Looks absolutely fantastic!
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Simone (junglefrog) — May 15th, 2012 at 18:59
Thanks so much Sandra..;)
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Good Morning Simone!
I hope you have sunshine there, we are having another day of rain. AH well, as I used to tell the girls when they were little. God is giving the trees a drink so all the fruit will be nice and juicy.
This terrine looks terrific!
I do have a couple of queries.
I have never heard of white anchovies before. Could I use the regular ones?
Also is a crank spatula the same as an offset spatula?
Thanks for sharing.
Have a Joyful Day :~D
Charlie
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Simone (junglefrog) — May 15th, 2012 at 18:58
He Charlie! To be quite honest I had never heard of white anchovies before either. We just used regular anchovies, the butter becomes fairly greyish but still looks good once in the terrine. As for the crank spatula vs the offset; I’m guessing it is the same thing. Basically it is not a straight spatula but one with a bend in it so you can use it for flattening icing or as in this case if you have to flatten something at an angle/ Hope that makes sense?
Still raining here! We have hailstorms believe it or not, thunder and loads of rain today… Not sure if this will make the fruits nice and juicy as I think they might actually get too much!
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Charlie — May 15th, 2012 at 19:36
Hi Simone:
So sorry you are getting so much rain. I hope it slacks of for you.
Now that you have described it, the spatulas are the same thing, just called differently.
Keep those recipes coming! :~D
Charlie
Too thick? I don’t know what you are talking about. I think your terrine is just perfect! This seriously looks so amazingly delicious Simone, and I am starving at the time of writing these words, so I must refrain from looking at your pictures too much! I could very well picture myself indulging in this delicacy, with a piece of warm, crusty bread…
Oh god! Gotta get out of here. At least until that sublime sounding roasted pear cake recipe comes up…
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Simone (junglefrog) — May 17th, 2012 at 23:47
O yes that warm crusty bread is definitely going along with this treat really really well! In fact we ate it with that exact same crusty bread..
But well, you’re sweet but the layer is really a tad too thick.. Seriously! Roasted pear recipe… I just gotta remake that one soon, very very soon, as it was just sooo good!
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I was wondering if you would like to put up a link to this fish/seafood recipe in my Food on Friday Series. Your recipe just looks wonderful.
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What a beautiful terrine! It looks absolutely amazing!
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Hi! Could you please post with American measurements…? Thank you so much!!!!
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