Terrine and other Elements

An Indian summers day with Lily

Scorching hot sun sparkling on the wide river Reusse. Fire and water, a steamy, dreamy mix, floating gently by us in the shallows and flowing quickly, creating deceptivly dangerous whirlpools, in the deep centre. All this at the foot of my daughters back garden.
 We are minding my grandaughter Lily, that is her dad, her great grandmother and I.


White water The Reusse

 Slipping upstairs, barefoot, I cool my feet on the stone tiles in the kitchen and wonder what to cook? There are left overs: a pumpkin & coconut Thai style curry - one egg -half a packet of tofu - lots of onions... I root around the cupboards, it is literally too hot, to hot foot it to the shops; the cobble stones out the front are ponding out warning waves of hazy heat.
  I add some fine polenta flour to the curry, finely chop two mushrooms, two big red onions and mix it all together.
 In a second bowl goes the egg, two teaspoons of corn flour, a dash of cream, a small mug of water, two cooked potatoes, a chopped white onion and loads of fresh parsley. Using a potato masher I lazily blend the mixture together.
  I brush a rectangular bread tin with water, line it with cling film and start to layer my bits & bobs:  half the curry, half the creamy mix, a little grated cheese,  wafer thin slices of tofu then reversing the layers  and finishing up with the curry.
The whole thing then goes in a bain marie  in a medium hot oven at around 200c.
Happily I drift back downstairs to chat with   Omi about everything under the sun, in the sun, my white legs turning pink before our eyes; "Oh well vitamin D, I am all yours" I think.
  Roughly an hour or so later I remove the terrine from the oven and while it is cooling I finish  off a bulgar salad, wash the lettuce and away we go, on this stunning Indian summers day, lunch is served.
 To conclude the meal we all follow Lilys trend and stretch out under  the shade of large umbrellas, where we fall, comatosed into a well deserved after-lunch nap.


Our ship comes in