Layered Chicken and Pork Terrine
The overnight pressing helps make this zesty terrine sliceable. We stamped out festive shapes from our toasts for a Christmassy flourish.
Hands-on time 40min, plus cooling and overnight chilling. Cooking time
about 2hr 10min. Serves 8 ½tbsp olive oil, plus extra to brush and grease
1 onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
2tbsp brandy, optional
12 rashers smoked streaky bacon
500g pork mince
50g dried apricots, finely chopped 5 fresh sage leaves, finely sliced
2 skinless chicken breasts
40g pistachios, roughly chopped
Finely grated zest ½ orange
TO SERVE
Fruit chutney or onion marmalade Toasts
1 Heat the oil in a medium pan over low-medium heat. Add onion and cook for 10min, until softened. Add garlic and fry for 1min. Carefully stir in brandy, if using, and bubble for 30sec. Tip the mixture into a large bowl. Cool.
2 Preheat oven to 180°C (160°C fan) mark 4. Lightly stretch about 10 of the
bacon rashers lengthways and use to line the inside of a 900g loaf tin, leaving excess hanging over the sides (trimming rashers to fit short sides, if needed). Spoon ⅓ of cooled onions into a separate bowl. Add the pork mince, apricots, sage leaves, ½tsp salt and plenty of freshly ground black pepper to the remaining onions. Mix and set aside.
3 Next, whizz the chicken breasts in a food processor, until finely chopped. Add to the bowl with ⅓ onions and mix in the pistachios, orange zest and ½tsp salt.
4 Press half the pork mixture into the base of the lined loaf tin, levelling the surface. Top with the chicken mixture in an even layer and finish with the remaining pork mixture, pressing to level. Fold overhanging bacon over the filling, then cover with the remaining rashers. Press down again to make sure the surface is smooth. Lightly grease a small sheet of foil and press on top of the bacon, oil-side down. Wrap the tin well in a further double layer of foil, then put into a roasting tin.
5 Half-fill the roasting tin with just-boiled water from the kettle and carefully transfer to the oven. Cook for 1½hr, until the terrine feels solid when pressed. Lift the tin out of the water. Unwrap the outer layers of the foil (leaving the greased foil layer in place). Carefully pour out the liquid from the terrine (this will set into a jelly if not done). Leave to cool.
6 Sit the loaf tin on a baking tray and place three tins of tomatoes (or similar) on top of the terrine (resting on the foil layer). Chill overnight.
7 To serve, preheat oven to 190°C (170°C fan) mark 5. Unmould terrine on to a baking tray and lightly brush with oil. Brown in the oven for 25min (if you don’t want the terrine browned, leave this step out). Serve warm or at room temperature with fruit chutney and toast. PER SERVING (without chutney and toasts) 305cals, 27g protein, 19g fat (6g saturates), 4g carbs (4g total sugars), 1g fibre TO STORE To serve fewer people and to store the leftovers, do not reheat as in step 7 and serve the terrine at room temperature. Leftovers can then be covered and chilled for up to 2 days.