Ham Hock Terrine, Gougeres, Salmon Fishcakes

I can be quite determined when I've something on my mind, even if it is the most crazy idea. And when it comes to cooking, I torture myself with same amount of grit, which, combined with a good pinch of perfectionism, can be sometimes quite disappointing, when by the end, not everything turns out exactly like I have it pictured in my hard-bitten brain . But this is also the funny side of amateur cooking, you never know what happens next...








You might have a confused look in your eyes, when you see somebody in the morning with a 1,5 kg ham hock in the shopping bag. That's what P's look was like, when he raised his eyes from his not even finished morning coffee, and saw me, loading the piece of meat into our kitchen. So yes, I sometimes get these strange ideas, this time it is meant to be classic French cooking: a ham hock terrine.
I placed the ham with some carrots, celery sticks, halved onion, garlic cloves, parsley sticks, some black pepper corns and couple of gloves (eh - don't you mean 'cloves' p?) into a large saucepan. Filled with cold water and brought to boil, turning down the heat as I wanted it to cook slowly for at least 3 hours. Only then, meat becomes nice and tender. Good thing is, you leave the ham simmering away, and turn yourself to things you actually have to do, so handy. When ham is cooked, remove it from the stock and let it cool down, same for the stock. Later you can separate the meat from the bone easily. Then simply chop some cornichons, scallions and fresh flat parsley, fry up some capers in a small pan for max. 30 seconds (just to release the flavour) and combine all with the flaked meat. Cover the inside of a long terrine mould (I used 2 smaller ones) with 2-3 layers of cling film, leaving enough amount overlapping the mould. Put the ham mixture into the mould. I used gelatine to set the terrine, some would prefer maybe the vegetarian version agar agar, or even just using the left over stock. I dissolved gelatine in hot water, added stock and poured it over the mixture in the mould. Make sure everything is covered, then close the terrine with the overlapping cling film. To weight the whole thing down a bit, I cut out 2 rectangular pieces of cardboard, wrapped them in foil and adjusted them on top of each terrine... ahh, actually P did this. Voilá, move it to the fridge, and leave to rest for at least 12 hours (best over night).

Following some culinary advice (as you always get when living with a dominant cookie), I decided to crown this extraordinary experience with some caramelized Cox apples, with a touch of cinnamon and a bigger amount of whiskey. Quel plaisir!








First times can be adventurous and sometimes disappointing. I get disappointed very quickly if something doesn't turn out like I am expecting it to. This was the case in the Gougères-affair. Call it lack of patience or culinary experience if you want, I simply call it 'failure caused by a panic attack. Gougères are fine little fluffy balls, made of choux pastry adding some preferably Swiss hard cheese. 'Soooo eeeasy', as Monsieur R. Blanc would say. Yeah right, despite the fact, that just the circumstance of making the choux paste is drives you mad.
For app. 20 balls, I boiled 75 ml water, added a good pinch of salt and melted 25 g butter. Then a recipe says, pour 75 g flour quickly into the pan, stirring it like you were breaking the world record. Well I did, but had suddenly this big lump in front of me and desperately started to add more water, to loosen it up a bit. BIG mistake. It finally become a smooth paste, so I threw in an egg, took the pan off the heat, stirred constantly and then added another egg. I grated app. 50 g of Comté and a little bit of Peccorino cheese and added it to the mixture. For even more fun, grated some fresh nutmeg on top of it. I was quite happy with it at that stage, until I wondered, while filling the piping bag, how would it be possible to get actual shapes of balls onto the baking tray in front of me... The answer was - impossible, as the pastry was too liquid.

Don't get me wrong, there was nothing wrong about the taste of those ...ahh discs. Fluffy and cheesy throughout, just imagine them as actual balls ;)







For these yummy spicy fishcakes, I used smoked salmon, but fresh salmon fillets are welcome too. I cooked 2 medium potatoes and pressed them while hot through a potato ricer. Let it cool down, then combined with chopped salmon, 2 finely chopped chilies, spring onions and some fresh dill. Sprinkled a bit of lemon juice and gently mixed in a pint of bread crumbs.

I formed individual small pates, using a little bit of flour to cover them before frying. After heating the pan and some veg oil, I fried the cakes for a few minutes on each side until they turned golden brown and crispy. Served with a splash of yummy home made tarragon mayo, so good, makes you wanna cry...


Shopping List:

Veggies €4.18

Ham Hock (local butcher) €3.00

Smoked Salmon €2.29

Capers €1.89

Cornichons €1.29

Baguette (deli) €1.95

.........................................................

Total €14.60

Drinks:
DL Riesling, Germany, 2008, 8.5%
Lunate, Merlot, Sicilia, 14%

On the strereo
Billie Holiday, Interpol, Notorious B.I.G.