| Pleasant Grove Pâté
Terrine
According to Herbst, pâté,
with an accent over the "e" (French for pie) refers to "various elegant,
well seasoned, ground meat preparations . . .they can be satiny-smooth
...or coarsely textured." What we have here fits the definition,
save for the elegant part. It's just mom's meatloaf in pâté
attire!
On two recent occasions, The Little Woman tasked me to prepare a meat
loaf to serve, cold and sliced, at a board meeting of the Friends of Pleasant
Grove. OK the first time, but I was underwhelmed by the presentation--simply
a mound of meatloaf holding down a bed of lettuce, too broad in the
center and too narrow at the ends. Folks were breaking up the slices
to fit their crowded plate.
Seizing the opportunity to buy yet another pan, I rushed to Sur La Table
and brought home a Corvette-yellow Le Creuset Terrine. Nancy, the
clerk asked me, in jest (I'm known there), if I knew what the pan was for.
I said, "ya, pâté en terrine." She said, "no!
It's really a lasagna-for-two pan!" "Well, I'll be darned. I didn't
know that" said I.
 The idea
here was to shape and dress up a meatloaf. Readers might recall
the recent article on soppressata
salami.
Since I had some of it in the fridge, I proceeded to carefully line the
terrine with overlapping slices of soppressata, leaving a good portion
as a flap to overlap the top of the pâté (the flaps
don't show up well in the photo). The salami lining also provided a bit
of fat to the lean ground sirloin.
Pleasant Grove Pâté Terrine
Yield: about 20 slices, more if cold and cut thin
See abbreviations, if needed
1/4 lb soppressata salami (about 20 thin slices)
1T EVOO
1 medium
yellow onion, diced
2 cloves garlic,
pureed
1 jalapeno,
roasted, peeled, deseeded, deveined and finely diced (optional)
1t thyme
1t S/P each
1t Dijon mustard
1t Worchester sauce
2 dashes Tennessee
Sunshine or Tobasco
2 eggs
2 lbs ground sirloin or a mix with ground pork
(room temperature)
1oz milk or yogurt
3/4C bread crumbs or Panko (Japanese bread crumb
preparation--widely available)
5 sprigs fresh thyme (garnish)
1. Preheat oven to 350F
2. Line the terrine with overlapping slices of soppressata,
with a half length hanging
over the top rim. Set aside
3. Sauté onions to transparent in the EVOO
4. Add the garlic and optional jalapenos and heat briefly
5. Empty the sauté pan into a SSB
6. Add the dry seasonings, mustard, Worchester, hot sauce
and mix well
7. Break the eggs in a prep dish, mix briefly and then
add them to the SSB
8. Add the sirloin and mix all well by hand
9. Add a splash of milk if the mixture appears too dry
10. Add the bread crumbs or Panko and mix thoroughly, again by hand
11. Turn out the pâté and shape to fit the
terrine
12. Carefully place the pâté into the terrine
and press to fit into the sides and edges
13. Fold the soppressata flaps over the top of the pâté
14. Cut 2 inch lengths of the thyme sprigs and tuck one end of
each sprig under each
soppressata flap
15 Bake, uncovered, to 160F inside temperature, about 40 minutes
16. Let cool before removing the pâté with the sopressata
jacket or
serve hot or cold in the terrine
Note Use a small offset spatula or other very flexible
flat blade to work the pâté
out of the terrine with the soppressata lining entact--sides and bottom.
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