Luscious Lavosh and Terrific Terrine, or Perfect Party Pickings!

As many of you know, we are obsessed with food, therefore, we are obsessed with anything on TV that relates to food or cooking or growing food or serving food or eating out, and so forth! At least once a week, The Man will say “Write that down!” as we watch one show or another. I usually do, but fortunately, most of the recipes shown on the various shows are also available on the internet.

During the past couple of weeks, two ‘new’ dishes on TV caught our eye(s). While they were on different programs, we thought they’d be great together. They were!

The first tempting titbit was on a New Zealand TV show featuring our home-grown ‘cook’, Annabel Langbein. She’s a bit of an outdoorsy 'Nigella', and she’s great. One of her cookbooks is my ‘go-to’ when I need inspiration for dinner. So, this year, she finally has her own show, and it, too, is great.

On this particular episode, she was preparing Sesame Seed Lavosh, a Middle Eastern flat-bread, to go with hummus. Well, we make hummus ALL the time, and I’ve always fancied making my own crackers. Plus, if you ever see lavosh in the grocery store (it’ll be in the gourmet section) check out the price tag!!! YIKES!!! She made it look so easy, so we decided to give it a go. Her recipe called for black and white sesame seeds, but The Man (creatively) decided to also add a dash of quinnoa for the red effect (not to mention the health benefits). The first batch was fantastic, although we struggled to roll it as thin as it needs to be. Well, I scratched my head and said, ‘Why couldn’t you use the pasta machine to roll it? Then it would also be consistent!’ So, the second batch was perfectly thin, and consistent, and buttery, and crunchy, and melt in you mouth and morish!

It went on as one of our ‘Weekend Specials’ at the Hilltop along with a sun dried tomato hummus, and it was a hit! It is now a fixture on the menu!

Sesame & Quinnoa Lavosh

Then, as we were religiously watching Masterchef Australia one evening, George and Gary did a Ham Hock Terrine during the Masterclass. Oh boy! Did this look good? It also looked inexpensive, and elegant, not to mention, easy. They did it with Eggs Benedict, but we thought the terrine on its own looked very worthy. When we told Chef Lucky about it, he was so excited. Everyday, in his lovely Czech accent he would ask, ‘Are we getting the ham hocks today?’

We got the ham hocks and Lucky set about boiling them (and then making an amazing pea soup from the leftover stock) and picking the meat off. The proscuitto was carefully layered into the terrine, the ham and butter (I didn’t say it was low-fat!) and spices were added. The proscuitto was folded over the top and the terrine was carefully weighted down overnight.

Boiling the Ham Hocks

The next day, Lucky carefully unmolded the terrine and gently sliced off a slender slab for us all to try. WOW! It was truly hard to not want to eat the entire thing! We decided that the only thing that might make it better or possibly more interesting would be the addition of some dried cranberries and pistachio nuts.

Ham Hock Terrine with Cranberries & Pistchios

This week’s terrine had the additions, and it is perfect. It goes fantastically with the crispy yet delicate lavosh, along with a few cornichons (baby pickles) and a cranberry sauce.

The Lavosh & Terrine Platter

These are two elegant yet easy dishes that married beautifully. Whilst we will continue to serve them at the Café, I took this to a party last night and it was most welcomed. Possibly a Holiday idea for some of you? Skip the store-bought crackers and pate, and give this a go! It’s fantastic!

As an afterthought, I spoke with one of my employees this morning. Her 13 year old daughter works for us occasionally as a dishwasher. Last weekend I let her sample the lavosh, as she always seems quite curious about the food we are serving. Last week, Sue (her mom) had reported that Gabrielle had presented her parents with a shopping list. Yesterday, she made the lavosh and it was exceptional, according to Sue! GO GABBY!