Fruit is given a new lease of life in this vibrant and sophisticated terrine. Serve with raspberry sauce and light, crisp ginger biscuits.
Prepare the terrine at least a day in advance. You can refrigerate it for up to three days. Serve with raspberry sauce and light, crisp bickies, such as ginger biscuits.
Fruit Terrine with Ginger Biscuits and Raspberry Sauce
Serves 8
Fruit Terrine
3 firm, ripe pears, preferably >Williams or Beurre Bosc, peeled, quartered, and cored
2 nectarines
4 feijoas, peeled, sliced
2 tbsp lemon juice
11/2 cups orange juice
2 cups pomegranate juice
1/2 cup fresh passionfruit pulp
1 cup sugar
5 tbsp unflavoured gelatine
200g fresh raspberries
4 oranges, segmented, skin and >pith discarded
mint leaves, to serve (optional)
Ginger Biscuits
125g golden syrup
50g butter
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp orange zest
2 tbsp orange juice
1½ cups self-raising flour
1 tsp ground ginger
Raspberry Sauce
2 cups fresh raspberries or blackberries
5 tbsp icing sugar
Method:
To make fruit terrine, place pears in a large saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, and cook, uncovered, until fork-tender, about 5-8 minutes, depending on ripeness. Remove pears and drain on paper towel. Cut each piece of pear lengthways into 3 segments. Cut lengthways through the middle of nectarines, splitting the fruit in half, so you can remove stone. Slice fruit into thin wedges. Lay nectarines and feijoa slices in a dish and drizzle with lemon juice to stop browning and set aside.
Mix orange juice, pomegranate juice, passionfruit pulp, and sugar in a medium saucepan. Sprinkle in gelatine. Set aside and let soften for 5 minutes. Heat mixture over low heat, stirring with a wooden spoon, until gelatine and sugar completely dissolve, about 2 minutes. Set aside but don’t refrigerate.
Pour about ¼ cup of jelly mix into a 2.5-litre loaf pan. Arrange a third of the pears evenly in the bottom of pan. Top pear layer with half the nectarine and feijoa slices and half the raspberries. Arrange half the orange segments on top of raspberries. Gently ladle in enough gelatine mix to just cover the fruits. Place loaf pan in coldest part of the fridge until gelatine is nearly set; this should take about 20-30 minutes.
Continue layering fruit as before until terrine is filled, finishing with an extra layer of pears. Pour in jelly mix. If gelatine has set in the saucepan, warm slightly to melt (but not hot enough, when poured in, to melt the set layer underneath). Cover loaf pan with plastic wrap and refrigerate until set, about 6 hours or overnight.
To make ginger biscuits, preheat oven to 180°C. Lightly grease two baking trays. Place syrup, butter, sugar, zest, and juice in a heavy-based saucepan and heat very gently until melted and evenly blended. Let cool slightly, and then sift in flour with ginger. Mix thoroughly until smooth.
Place small spoonfuls of mixture on baking trays, spacing them far enough apart to allow room for spreading. Bake for 12 minutes, or until golden brown. Leave on baking tray for approximately 1 minute, then carefully transfer to a wire rack to cool.
To make the raspberry sauce, combine berries and icing sugar in a small saucepan. Cook over low heat until berries are soft, about 3-4 minutes. Place mixture into a food processor or blender and puree. Strain through a fine sieve into a small bowl and discard seeds. Stir in 2 tablespoons cold water to thin sauce. Let cool before serving.
About 1 hour before serving, place terrine in the freezer. To remove from mould, briefly dip pan in hot water and invert terrine onto a large serving platter. To serve, use a sharp knife dipped in hot water to carefully cut terrine into slices about 2cm thick. Reserve two slices for fruit jelly cups recipe and refrigerate. Place each slice on a dessert plate and surround it with some raspberry sauce.
Accompany with extra raspberry sauce (reserving ¼ cup for Fruit Jelly Cups) and ginger biscuits, and garnish with fresh mint leaves.
Use your leftovers, and make Fruit Jelly Cups for dessert tomorrow.
