Christiane’s Dinner-Party Terrine | Everyday Dorie

The Christiane’s dinner-party terrine brings me back to the last terrine I made which was a duck terrine with figs. It is hard to compare a gourmet duck terrine with an egg-and-cream custard “party” terrine. This one has onions, peppers and lots of herbs. It tastes more like a tall quiche than the typical notion of a terrine with chunky pâtés made with meat. I don’t know whether it’s fair to call it a terrine, other than the cut-and-slice aspect of it.

Well, whatever you call it, it’s much easy to put together the “party” terrine. Sauté one large onion, chopped, with red bell pepper. Then stir in a generous cup of herb mix (white and light green parts of scallions and fresh basil). Finally, blend everything together with egg and cream (9 large eggs and 1 3/4 cups of heavy cream). That becomes the vegetable custard. Bake the custard in 8×4 inch loaf pan for 1 1/2 hours at 350°F in a convection steam oven.

As it turns out, the texture of the “party” terrine is quite loose as compared to the duck terrine or Dorie’s. I should have used a heavy-duty lid on top while baking the terrine. Or perhaps there are excess water in the custard.

You can serve the terrine at room temperature or chilled. I serve it with Dorie’s optional tomato and basil sauce and a green salad. It hardly feels like a party dish. Rather it resembles a light and refreshing meal you can have year round. I like the tomato and basil sauce which reminds me of an easy causal picnic in the summertime.