The-easiest-damn-terrine-in-the-world

Sometimes things can weigh on your mind. The last thoughts as you drift from drooling wakefulness into sleep (too much information?) can plague you: overdue BAS statements, orientation day for your third university degree (are they letting children into university now??), a dog with snoring issues, neglected facebook friends....and the terrines you haven't made for three weeks running.


My fellow terrine-lovers -  apologies for the length between drinks (err...terrines). The last few weeks have been incredibly busy and always at the back of my mind is the fact that I am falling behind on my terrine mission. Never fear, because I'm back!


When I started this crazy venture, I always had the spare, go-to terrine in the back of my mind. I thought I would pull it out mid-July when things were really hectic, but it seems I've had to call on the big back-up guns in February.


The following terrine is the one of the easiest damn things you'll ever make. I've made it tonnes of times before and the recipe comes from Mr Reynaud's first book Ripailles. To be honest, this recipe and the orange tuille biscuits are the only other things I've managed to conquer from that book (okay, the tuilles were kind of burnt).


All that is required are two of the good things in life: a decent, creamy blue cheese and some celery. Mr Reynaud's original recipe calls for butter...so make that three if you want to add it to the celery mixture.  Given that we're from Gen X/Gen Y, that means we are a generation that don't really use or eat butter anymore so I have eliminated it altogether from this terrine. Frankly, you won't need it!


First, find yourself some good quality blue cheese: I like blue castello for this dish.

Line your terrine with cling wrap and smoosh the first block of cheese into base of the terrine (I checked - smoosh is a technical term used for the re-shaping of cheeses. Truly.). Smooth it out so that cracks can't occur. Then add a very fine layer of chopped celery stalks - this will be the middle layer of the terrine.

Then grab your second block of cheese then smoosh and layer over the layer of celery. Wrap the whole thing in clingwrap and then pop into the fridge until you need to eat/deliver it to a barbeque.


The beauty of this terrine is that it can be made in under ten minutes (if you don't count the quick drive to the shops, avoiding the old-timers trying to back their Honda Sonatas into small car spaces, fighting the mothers with toddlers at the checkout, jumping back into said car and into the cool confines of your own kitchen).


This is what I call the easiest-damn-terrine-in-the-world. And the best part is: the wow-factor when you rock up at the barbeque you're taking it to.

Et voila! This lovely looking thing survived another thirty-degree day in Sydney and was chowed down by a wonderful coterie of very learned and well-travelled types who had congregated in Paddington. What they secretly didn't know was: I barely did a thing.

Apart from being able to impart my growing terrine-wisdom, I learned some very interesting facts at this unique gathering:


- Micronesia is in fact a country, and its capital is Pohnpei (not Pompei, as I repeated for the entire gathering)
- Guam has the largest Kmart in the entire world;
- apparently Honiara, Solomon Islands, has an awesome book club.


You guessed it, the barbie was an interesting gathering of types that had lived and worked all over the Pacific (a reunion of sorts for Australian Youth Ambassadors, of which I am not; I was a hanger on). I was more than happy that I could contribute my little knowledge of Hawaiian culture, I'm pretty sure that qualified me. Three months and apparently I'm an expert.


Next up: I'm working on a terrine with a tropical theme.