Turkey and Ham Terrine – Christmas leftovers recipe

Well, before I begin today, I’d like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Father Christmas was extremely generous this year and I’m now enjoying all the lovely presents he, my parents and my husband delivered! I am loving Windows 7 and am trying out writing my blog via a new tool (!) and have got lots of exciting books to blog about too!

    

So, what was Christmas like this year? It was the first year I’ve ever cooked turkey, and due to the quality of it, and a quick recap of what Delia does before I began, it was delicious. I stuffed it both ends; in the cavity and under the skin, covered it in butter, salt and peppered it and wrapped streaky bacon over the top. Served with all the trimmings, even though everyone’s favourites are the pigs in blankets, it was a success!

But what about all those leftovers? As usual, taking hubby to the supermarket before Christmas was a mistake and several more items than usual were found in the trolley when unloading. So as well as a 14lb turkey from the farm for dinner, we also have the leftovers of a large on the bone ham to eat up! We’ve already done triple decker sandwiches, gravy included, and last night was the turn of ham, eggs and chips! Tonight it’s Ham with Parsley sauce, and a day to remove all the meat from the bones and see what else it can be turned into! A turkey stock is first up, then a soup or some sort, depending on which meat there is most of, then a terrine with whatever’s left!

Last year, I went to Hepburns for a ham hock and a couple of trotters to make a Ham Terrine I’d had as part of a Christmas celebration at a restaurants, (the chef was kind enough to pass the recipe on to me!), and it was really delicious. This year, mum found a recipe in the Telegraph, and although it uses gelatine, I’m going to combine the two recipes and see what happens!

Ingredients:

3kg ham hocks

2 pigs' trotters

25g chives and 25g parsley

50g onion, 50g capers, and 50g gherkins

75cl white wine

10cl white wine vinegar

coriander root

salt and pepper

The original recipe consists of boiling the hocks (3kg) and trotters (2) in a stock pot with cold water for ten minutes, skimming off the scum as you go, then removing the meat and discarding the water. You then return the meat, add chopped coriander root, ground pepper and finely chopped onion (50g).  Pour in the white wine (75cl) and white wine vinegar (10cl) and add enough water to cover the ingredients. Bring to the boil and simmer very gently without covering for at least 2 hours, until the hocks are tender and the meat falls off. Cool in the liquid, remove the hocks, cover in cling film and set aside. Discard the trotters. Strain the liquid through a muslin-lined sieve into a clean pan and boil rapidly until reduced  to a pint. Strain again and set aside. Line a terrine tin with a double layer of cling film, peel the skin off the hocks and shred the meat. Mix with the capers and gherkins, 50g of each, and the parsley and chives, 25g of each. Season with pepper and only add salt if necessary. Pile and push the mixture into the lined tin and press down firmly. Pour the reduced liquid in to cover the meat and tap the tin to remove air pockets. Cover with overhanging cling film and chill over night. Serve in thick slices!