Serve with strawberry sauce and crispy sugar almonds
The terrine:
3 cups/750 ml fresh strawberries, hulled and cut in half
240 g/8.5 oz good-quality white chocolate, chopped
127 g/4.5 oz sugar
2 tablespoons/30 ml water
1 tablespoon/15 ml light corn syrup
4 large free-range egg whites
½ teaspoon/3 ml cream of tartar
1½ cups/375 ml chilled fresh cream
seeds from one vanilla pod
1 tablespoon/15 ml Grand Marnier liqueur
The crispy sugary almonds:
100 g/3.5 oz sugar
2 tablespoons/30 ml liquid glucose
1 tablespoon/15 ml water
3 tablespoons/45 ml almonds, flaked and roasted
Extra garnish:
glazed fruit, such as green fig and orange, finely sliced (optional)
reserved strawberry puree
Make the terrine:
♦ Line the bottom of a 22 x 12 x 7 cm/8½ x 4.7 x 2.7 in terrine dish (7-8-cup capacity) with cling-film, extending the foil over the shorter ends.
♦ Puree the strawberries and measure out 1¼ cups/312.5 ml of the puree and set aside. Reserve the remaining puree for garnishing.
♦ Stir the white chocolate in the top of a double boiler set over barely simmering water until melted. Remove from the heat.
♦ In a small saucepan, heat the sugar, water and corn syrup until the sugar dissolves, then increase the heat. Boil for about 4 minutes (120°C/248°F on a sugar thermometer), periodically brushing down the sides of the pan with a wet pastry brush.
♦ Meanwhile, whisk the egg whites and cream of tartar in a large bowl until it forms soft peaks. Gradually add the boiling syrup to the whites, beating until the meringue is cool, about 5 minutes; then fold the melted white chocolate into the meringue.
♦ Beat the cream and vanilla in a large bowl until medium-firm, then add to the white chocolate mixture to form the chocolate mousse.
♦ Transfer 4 cups/1 liter of the white chocolate mousse to a medium bowl and fold the 1¼ cups strawberry puree and Grand Marnier into the mousse.
♦ Spread half the strawberry mousse in the prepared terrine dish, and freeze until almost firm, about 15 minutes. Keep the remaining white chocolate mousse and remaining strawberry mousse in the refrigerator.
♦ After 15 minutes, spread the white chocolate mousse over the half frozen strawberry mousse layer and freeze for about 25 minutes.
♦ Spread the remaining strawberry mousse over the white chocolate layer. Cover the terrine with plastic and freeze overnight. (Can be prepared and kept frozen for 4 days ahead).
♦ Uncover the terrine and carefully invert the terrine onto a platter. Carefully peel off the cling-film.
The crispy sugary almonds:
Bring the sugar, glucose and water to a boil over medium heat until it turns golden and lightly caramelizes. Remove from the heat and leave to cool slightly.
Glucose is very sticky and an easy way to measure it is with either a heated spoon or a spoon dipped in oil. The glucose will simply slip off the spoon. Do the same with honey and corn syrup.
Lightly grease some parchment paper, or use silicone paper, and with a teaspoon drizzle the sugar syrup into patterns of your choice. Immediately scatter the almonds over the sugar patterns, then leave to cool totally and become crispy.
To serve:
Brush a wide stripe of the reserved strawberry puree over the center of each serving plate, place a slice of the terrine in the middle of the stripe, and decorate with sugary almonds and glazed fruit (if using).
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