IMBB? Ninth Edition: Layers and Layers
Potato and Butternut Squash Gratin Terrine with Gruyère
When is a gratin not a gratin??? When you make it into a terrine!
I must admit, I’m a little fuzzy on the whole terrine concept, and Derrick over at An Obsession With Food, when he announced this Ninth Edition of IMBB, provided a Terrine Primer. But, when I took up some of my own research, I found one haunting phrase in Madeline Kamman’s The Making of a Cook: "cooked in an ovenproof dish, chilled and served cold." Hmmm. I could feel a blog burning disaster brewing!
When IMBB 9 was announced, I had just ordered a dehydrator kit and was ready to dive into Raw cooking. Charlie Trotter’s Raw has a magnificent lasagna that I thought would be perfect. Well, three weeks later, I’m still waiting for my dehydrator kit to arrive. And, to boot, the dinner party that I was going to prepare this luscious terrine for was canceled. So, there I was, Sunday morning – blog burning morning – with not much more than the butternut squash I bought before the party was canceled. I thought of throwing the towel in and just making the butternut squash soup with spiced crème fraîche as I had planned. But, as I began flipping a few pages further into my cookbook, there it was! The inspiration for my terrine. A gratin… yes, but, well it did seem to fit Derrick’s definition in a sort of loosey goosey kind of way.
Had I photographed this cut of my terrine while it was still piping hot, you’d have seen the creaminess and oozing cheese spilling over the layers – and, well, basically making the layers impossible to see. So, I waited until the gratin set up. It sliced easily and actually held together quite nicely. As for the taste? Let’s just say its rich, complex and creamy-luscious. The earthy flavor of potatoes as a platform for the sweetness of the butternut squash blends elegantly with the herbs, and the garlic. The cream and cheese just makes it all grown up.
Potato and Butternut Squash Gratin Terrine with Gruyère
adapted from Alfred Portale’s Twelve Seasons Cookbook
Copyright © 2000 by Alfred Portale (Broadway, 2000)
Makes 6 servings
1 butternut squash, long neck only, peeled and sliced 1/8" thick
1 large russet potato, peeled and sliced 1/8" thick
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
1 teaspoon chopped fresh marjoram
1 teaspoon chopped fresh sage
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 cup heavy cream
4 ounces Gruyère cheese, coarsely grated
Preheat the oven to 375°F. Generously butter a 6-by-3 inch terrine mold, earthenware or ovenproof dish.
In a small bowl combine the freshly chopped herbs.
Arrange the slices of squash (trimmed as needed) in one layer on the bottom of the terrine mold. Sprinkle with some of the herbs and season with salt and pepper. Layer the potato slices, two slices deep, onto of the squash layer. Sprinkle with some of the herbs and 1/3 of the minced garlic. Season with salt and pepper.
Repeat this procedure, layering the slices two slices deep, finishing with a final layer (one slice deep) of squash.
Pressing the layers down with a spatula pour the cream just until the layers are barely covered with the cream. Sprinkle the remaining herbs and garlic on top. Season with salt and pepper.
Cover the dish with foil and bake for 45 minutes. Remove the foil and sprinkle the Gruyère on top. Continue to bake, uncovered, for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender, and the cream is nearly absorbed. The cheese should be lightly browned. Let the gratin rest about 10 minutes to absorb the cream before serving.
6:00:47 PM 
|
