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Wellington, New Zealand
Food lover. Food talker. Now food writer.

Saturday, 11 February 2012

Hot and Cold Smoked Salmon Terrine (easier than it sounds!)

Served on a platter for everyone to help themselves
One of the joys of cooking is that you can make it the way you like it, rather than how someone else makes it. This recipe called for dill in the original, and while I acknowledge that dill and seafood are alleged to have a natural affinity, I don't go for it myself.

Plus Pav and I really like hot smoked salmon (and have been known to make our own), so we used that as a mixer with the originally suggested cold smoked salmon (in the mousse, not the wrapping).

The difference between hot and cold smoking is that hot smoking is at a higher temperature than cold smoking – usually above about 75C – and it therefore cooks the food while it is smoked. Cold smoking imparts the smoked flavour but does not cook the food. In order to preserve anything being cold smoked curing or cooking or salting or some other preservation method is required in addition to smoking.

Also, it had horseradish and I didn't have any, so I used its close relative wasabi. Worked a treat. 

This is a terrine, which makes it sound difficult, but because it's not layered, it's brilliantly easy.  And super delicious.  

Smoked Salmon Terrine with Apple, Cucumber and Caper Relish
Adapted from a Celia Harvey recipe from Cuisine Issue #149.

Start the day before serving, or at least the morning of the evening. First line the sides and base of a terrine or loaf dish with a layer of cling film. Sprinkling the inside of the dish with a bit of water helps the film to cling. Mine is 22cm x 12cm and worked perfectly with this amount of ingredients. Make sure the film hangs over the edges enough to fold over completely.

Place the following in a food processor or bowl:
  • 450g hot smoked salmon pieces, broken up
  • 100g cream cheese (don't skimp on the fat content here) a bit warmer than fridge temperature
  • 2T chopped parsley
Mix until just combined. Gently stir through the following:
  • 300g crème fraiche or quark or similar
  • juice of one lemon
  • pinch of cayenne pepper
That's now your mousse lining for the terrine. Frankly, it's so nice you could just use it as a dip without completing the rest of the dish! (But the rest is great too, so do keep going!).

Line the sides and base of the dish with
  • 300g cold smoked salmon slices (best to buy pre-sliced), hot smoked won't work for this part
Making sure that the pieces line up well, so that the mousse when poured in won't push through this wrapping. Keep enough slices to line the top (which will be the bottom when turned out). 
Before covering with slices
 Pour in the mousse, smooth it out, cover with the remaining cold smoked salmon slices slices and wrap with the cling wrap. Chill for at least 8 hours. 
All wrapped up and ready for the fridge
When ready to serve lift out, unwrap and serve with relish to follow. Garnish with extra chives (from the relish) or parsley (from the mousse) or both.

For the relish, sprinkle
  • 2 green apples, peeled, cored and cut into fine matchsticks, sprinkled with 2T white vinegar to prevent browning
gently fold in
  • 2T capers drained and chopped to a fine paste
  • 2 lebanese cucumbers diced into 5mm pieces
  • 2T finely chopped chives
  • 2T grated horseradish or wasabi
  • black pepper
You can either slice the terrine and plate with relish and crackers/bread. Or serve on a large platter, which is what we did. It serves 8-10 easy.

I hope you enjoy it as much as we did. Feel free to fiddle with the ingredients to get your perfect mix, just like we did.