New Year's Eve recipe for 8-10 people, takes only 5 mins; recipe has chicken thighs, chicken stock, bay leaves, thyme sprigs, parsley, leek, black peppercorns, butter, banana shallots, bacon, garlic clove, chicken breast, apricots, brandy, leaf gelatine and toast.
Chicken terrine with leeks & apricots
Course: New Years Eve
Servings
8 - 10
servings
Prep time
25 mins
Ingredients
- Garlic Clove: 1 large garlic clove, finely chopped
- Chicken Breast: 2 chicken breasts, on the bone if possible, skin removed
- Parsley: handful parsley
- Butter: 30g butter, plus more for the tin
- Chicken Stock: 500ml fresh chicken stock (you can buy this ready-made)
- Toast: toast drizzled with olive oil, to serve (we used Crosta & Mollica Pane Pugliese)
- Leek: 2 leeks, finely chopped (keep the trimmings)
- Bacon: 50g smoked streaky bacon or pancetta, finely chopped
- Brandy: 3 tbsp brandy
- Thyme Sprigs: handful thyme sprigs
- Bay Leaves: 2 bay leaves, plus more to decorate
- Black Peppercorns: 6 black peppercorns
- Leaf Gelatine: 4 sheets leaf gelatine
- Chicken Thighs: 1kg chicken thighs on the bone, skin removed
- Banana Shallots: 1 large or 2 smaller banana shallots, finely chopped
- Apricots: 50g soft dried apricots, chopped
Directions
- Put the chicken thighs into a pan with the stock and a string-tied bundle of 2 bay leaves, a few of the thyme sprigs and a little of the parsley. Add a few leek trimmings, the peppercorns and 1/2 tsp salt. Add water to just cover the meat, if needed. Bring to the boil, then cover and gently simmer for 30 mins.
- Meanwhile, lightly butter a 900g loaf tin (ours was 12cm x 22cm x 7cm) and line with cling film, leaving plenty of overhang. Melt the butter in afrying pan, then add the leeks, shallots and some seasoning. Cook for 10 mins over a medium heat until starting to colour. Add the bacon and garlic and cook for 2 mins more until the bacon is cooked through. Leave to cool.
- Add the chicken breast to the stock mixture and top up with hot water to cover. Bring to the boil, then cover and simmer gently for another 20 mins. When ready, the chicken breast will be cooked through and the thigh meat will pull away easily from the bones. Lift the meat from the pan, drain the stock and leave to cool until it is just warm.
- Discard the bones and any knobbly bits, then roughly chop the chicken. Stir into the leek mixture, along with 2 tsp more thyme leaves, the apricots and the brandy.
- Soak the gelatine in cold water for 5 mins until floppy. Squeeze out the excess water, stir into 300ml of the warm stock, then mix with the chicken. Put a few bay leaves in the base of the tin, then spoon the chicken mixture on top and press down well. Cover with the cling film. Leave to cool, then chill thoroughly - overnight is best.Can be made up to three days ahead.
- To serve, slice the terrine while it's still wrapped in cling film, then carefully peel the cling film off each slice. Drizzle the toast slices with olive oil and grill until golden brown and crisp, then sprinkle with a little salt. Serve the terrine with the toast and our yogurt piccalilli & crisp kale salad.
