Tuesday 12 June 2007

Cauliflower & Pea Terrine


Today’s recipe is perfect for a cold starter for a dinner party or for the main course on a hot summer day. If you are tempted to serve it hot, good luck – the only time I’ve turned it out hot, it collapsed and started slithering down the side of the kitchen cabinet! That version only had one egg, so next time I made it I doubled the quantity of eggs.

This is perfect if you aren't that keen on vegetables but want to ensure you get your five servings of veggies a day. The cheese tones down the sulpherous taste of the cauliflower - not my favourite vegetable. I've yet to meet someone who doesn't like peas. Don’t know what to do with the other half of the cauliflower? Make Aloo Gobi (recipe next week).

The original version of this recipe is in Rose Elliott’s Cheap & Easy Vegetarian Cookbook. I think hers uses more cheese, too. The method below is all mine.

This recipe serves 4 as a main course, 8 as a starter. A main course serving costs 2.7WW points.

If you want to try a different version, I'd suggest broccoli instead of cauliflower, coupled with sweetcorn. Drop the mint and put the cheese with the corn, not the broccoli. The points would remain the same.

Ingredients

40g/1oz Butter
50g/1.5oz strong Cheddar Cheese grated
125g/4.5oz Green Peas (frozen is fine)
30g/1oz flour
2 Eggs
300ml/½ pint milk (skimmed if doing WW)
1/2 cauliflower
1/4 teaspoon dried mint

Method

1) Preheat oven to 180 C

2) Line a loaf pan with non-stick silcon paper/greaseproof paper

3) Break the cauliflower into florets, place in a saucepan, cover with water, bring to boil and simmer for 5 minutes

4) Meanwhile cook the peas in boiling water for 5 minutes.

5) In a saucepan, melt the butter over a low heat. Remove from heat. Wisk in the flour and blend until smooth, forming a roux. Return to heat, stiring all the time. When the roux is foaming, gradually stir in the milk and wisk until smooth. Bring sauce to boil, stiring constantly. Once boiled, simmer for 10 minutes, stiring ocasionally. (Sauce very thick).

6) When vegetables are cooked, drain them carefully.

7) In a blender/liquidizer/food processor, combine half the sauce with the drained cauliflower, all the cheese, and one egg. Blend until smooth. Pour into the lined loaf pan and smooth out until even.

8) In the blender again, combine the peas, mint, the other egg and the other half of the sauce. Blend until smooth. Pour over the cauliflower mixture and smooth out the top.
9) Bake at 180 C for at least an hour, until firm. Allow to cool in tin before turning out. Serve cold.

- Pam

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