Chicken and sausagemeat terrine with pistachios, lemon, basil and garlic

Show ingredients

Meat mains

Chicken and sausagemeat terrine with pistachios, lemon, basil and garlic

Starter Serves 6 2h
This is one of Simon Hopkinson's recipes, slightly bastardised by the addition of sausagemeat and pistachios, but fantastic nevertheless and guaranteed to wow the most hardcore foodie. You need to skin the chicken, keeping the skin intact and puncture free, but it's easily done by placing the bird breast-side-down, cutting along the back bone and peeling away from the carcass. You'll need to cut around the legs, but with a little gentle massaging, a rectangle of chicken skin will be yours.

Ingredients

  • 1.6kg chicken
  • 500g pork sausagemeat - you could make your own in a food processor using the diced pork and any fatty trimmings from the chicken
  • small handful basil leaves
  • 4 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
  • 1 large lemon, finely zested
  • 50g green pistachio nuts
  • ½ tbsp sea salt
  • ½ tsp ground pepper
  • pinch nutmeg, freshly grated

Method

Prep time: 30 min
Cooking time: 1h 30 min

  • Step 1

    Once skinned, carefully remove the breasts and legs from the chicken. Dice the breast and cut the leg meat away from the bones. Dice the leg meat a little smaller than the breast. Save the carcass for stock.

  • Step 2

    Preheat oven to 160°C/Gas Mark 3. Put the chicken meat into a bowl and mix in the sausagemeat, basil, garlic, lemon, salt, pistachio nuts, pepper and nutmeg. Mix well; it's far easier with your hands. Find a suitable sized bread tin, pâté mould or, as a last resort, a pudding bowl. Cut out a piece of foil big enough to line the cooking vessel, lay it on a flat surface and lay the chicken skin on top, bumpy-side-down.

  • Step 3

    Put the terrine dish into a deep tray and fill the tray with boiling water, so that it reaches three-quarters of the way up the sides of the dish. Cover with a lid or foil, and bake for 1½ hours. Once cooked, tip the water away and leave the terrine to cool and settle for 15 minutes in the tray. Press the terrine with a bag of sugar while it cools.