Rough Pork Liver Terrine

Ingredients
2 tbsp olive oil
175g/6oz onions, finely chopped
1kg/2¼lb rindless boned pork belly, cut into small pieces
175g/6oz rindless back bacon, cut into small pieces
175g/6oz lamb's or pig's liver, cut into small pieces
2 small garlic cloves, finely chopped
large handful parsley leaves, finely chopped
1½ tbsp chopped rosemary
1½ tbsp chopped thyme
1½ tsp salt
1½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
pickled blueberries and beetroot chutney, to serve
Method
1Heat the oil in a frying pan, add the onions and fry gently until soft but not browned.
2Transfer to a large mixing bowl and leave to cool.
3Put the pork belly into a food processor and chop, using the pulse button, into a coarse mixture.
4Add to the onions in the bowl. Put the bacon and liver in the food processor and again, coarsely chop, then transfer to the bowl.
5Add the garlic, chopped herbs, salt and freshly ground black pepper and mix everything together really well - the best way of distributing the ingredients evenly is with your hands.
6Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.
7Put the mixture into a lightly oiled 1.5 litre/2½ pint terrine dish or loaf tin and slightly round off the top.
8Cover with a lid or some foil, put into a small roasting tin and pour enough hot water into the tin to come half way up the sides of the dish. Bake for 1½ hours.
9Uncover the terrine and cook for a further 15 minutes, until it is lightly coloured on top.
10Remove the dish from the roasting tin and leave to cool. Then weight down the terrine overnight in the fridge. The easiest way to do this is to cut out a piece of cardboard that will fit inside the rim of the dish, cover it with foil, then place it on top of the terrine and place a few weights or unopened cans on top.
11To serve, remove the terrine from the dish in slices. Accompany with lots of crusty bread, pickled blueberries beetroot chutney and some cornichons.
12For the pickled blueberries, put 1.2 litres/2 pints of distilled malt vinegar into a pan with 30 garlic cloves, 12 allspice berries, a 5cm/2 inch piece of cinnamon stick, 4 small dried red chillies and 900g/2lb granulated sugar.
13Bring to the boil to dissolve the sugar, remove from the heat and leave to stand for 2 hours.
14Pack 175g/6oz of blueberries into sterilised 450g/1lb jars and pour over the cool syrup. Seal with vinegar-proof lids and leave for 2-3 months before using.
15For the beetroot chutney, (makes 7 x 450g/1 lb jars) peel 900g/2lb raw beetroot and coarsely shred on a mandolin or by hand.
16Put into a preserving pan with 450g/1lb chopped onions, 750g/1½ lb peeled, cored and roughly chopped cooking apples, 450g/1lb raisins, 3 tbsp ground ginger, 2 tsp dried chilli flakes, 900g/2lb granulated sugar, 1.2 litres/2 pints malt vinegar, 30g/1½oz salt and juice of 1 lemon.
17Heat gently, stirring, until the sugar has dissolved. Bring to the boil and simmer gently, uncovered, for about 2 hours, until well reduced and quite thick but don't forget that it will thicken even further as it cools.
18Spoon into warm, sterilised jars, cover with waxed discs and then seal with vinegar-proof lids. It will keep for up to one year.

Garlic/Chilli Squid Recipe

Garlic/Chilli Squid Recipe

Garlic/Chilli Squid.
Get whatever amount of chilli squid tubes you like, we will say 500g for this purpose.
Wash squid.
Cut into rings about 5mm wide. Lay sqid in a marinating dish.
Drizzle some olive or canola oil over. Make sure enough to coat all.
Juice of 2 lemons and 1 lime.
Sprinkle a fair amount of salt and pepper over.
Put in minced garlic, I usually put in about a 1/3 of a jar, but however much you like. Fresh is better.
1/2 teaspoon minced or shaved ginger.
1-2 teaspoons minced chilli.
A good sprinkle of paprika (optional).
A good sprinkle of tumeric (optional).
Mix well.
Allow to marinate for at least 2 hrs. 6-8hrs is better covered in fidge.
Heat BBQ to hot (or wok). Tip squid onto plate and cook quickly. As soon as squid is white remove and serve. Squid should be cooked quickly, overcooking will make rubbery.

BBQ Thai Tikka

A great marinade for chicken on a hot BBQ. It is low in fructose and superb on a wrap with rice the next day. So make sure you cook plenty and be generous with the fresh coriander.


1 kg chicken breast cut into large pieces

1" grated ginger

2 shallots sliced

1 200 ml can coconut cream. Do not shake and discard water only using the thick part.

3 small red hot chillies chopped.

3 tbsp green curry paste.

2 tbsp oyster sauce

1 tbsp palm sugar

Juice of 2.5 limes

3 tbsp chopped coriander

1/4. Tsp cumin ground or grated

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1 stalk of lemon grass chopped

3 tbsp peanut oil

1 pkt love

Combine all ingredients. Mix with chicken in a bowl. Leave for 2 hrs if you have time. Cook on a medium BBQ plate making sure you scrape all the marinade up and don't over cook. Serve with jasmine rice and more fresh coriander.

Fugax and Kiko; 270 Days, 1 Oven and a loaf of Bread

After 270 days of reading and digesting Kiko Denzers Earth Ovens I have come to my senses. First it was the Earth oven...such inspiration he gives! No wonder metals were invented to make cooking easier. I am now the proud owner of "Thomas" the stainless Steel Tank oven. No mud. It is waterproof. Takes 10minutes and a bit of gas to reach 500F. It doesn't look like a dragon, more the Steam engine it is named after. For the smoke effect, a few woodchips in the basket during cooking and woodfired authenticity is recreated.

Many tens of days passed until I had the desire for a loaf of Sourdough Bread. My usual supplier of the shires finest sourdough advised me they no produced heaven in a loaf. Unable to trust pre fab sourdoughs with a 3 month expiry date, it was back to Kiko's book. After a read of his wife's method for sourdough, I decided yes, am a patient man, I can wait for 8 days for a small loaf of bread! Feed the starter, feed the starter. I passed the time trying to get to last position of a famous on-line rugby league tipping competition (same prize last or first I figure!).
Mrs Denzer was in a typically Aquarius mood whilst writing this, not wanting me to go to any fuss brewing the yeast. The beer smell in the kitchen was pretty good unless a hangover was in process. It was the familiar combined odours of regurgitated food and stomach acid after 5 days that pulled me out of my Nimbinish stupor and disposed of the starter in the shires landfill.

My new hero is Chef John. I am sure sensible is his 'middle' name. from this I have produced my first 'starter', and consequently my first loaf of Sourdough. Looked superb. Tasted great. With some fine tuning I am sure it will improve. I hope to have some SDPOTD when I get around to replenishing the batteries in my camera.

Done like a Dinner

Well that pesky ranga budgie got too close.
A wedge of lemon, some Byron Bay Salt & Pepper and he was ready for the Smokin Pit.

Scarlet Headed Budgie

Found this strange bird in my garden the other day.Does anyone know any more about it?

First Post

Ha, I have now entered the questionably useful world of blogging and secured my famous user name.

If you have found this blog, the randomness of probility has besieged you.