Daring Cooks Challenge: Three Spice Pâté and Homemade Bread

Deep into my Italian adventures, I completely missed the 14th, and the posting day for the latest Daring Cooks challenge.  But at least I did plan ahead and before leaving, made one of the delicious pâtés that Daring Cooks hostesses this month, Evelyne of Cheap Ethnic Eatz, and Valerie of The Chocolate Bunny, chose. Along with pâté, the June challenge called for freshly baked bread. They provided us with four different pâté recipes to choose from and allowed us to go wild with our homemade bread choice.

I chose to make the Three Spice Liver Pâté, adapted from Ravenous Couple, which was inspired by White on Rice Couple. For the bread, I made one of my favourites: Six Hour Artisantal Bread.  The rustic and chewy bread, with its crackling crust, was just right with the pâté.

Three Spice Liver Pâté

Yields one 10 x 5 inch terrine or loaf pan

1 lb pork liver (or beef or combination)
½ lb ground pork
½ lb pork fat (or pork belly)
2 cloves garlic
2 shallots
1 whole egg and 1 egg yolk
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp coriander (ground or crushed)
½ tsp cumin*
¾ tsp salt
1 tbsp coarse freshly cracked peppercorns
2 tbsp cognac
2 bay leaves
1 package of bacon

*I roast and grind cumin seeds as needed, rather than buying gound cumin.  The roasting (done by heating the cumin gently in a pan over medium heat until fragrant), gives a richness to the cumin that store-bought can't replicate.

1.  Preheat oven to to 350ºF (180ºC).

2.  Cut liver and pork fat into small pieces and add to food processor. Add ground pork, garlic, shallots, cinnamon, cumin, coriander, salt and pepper. Grind until smooth.

3.  In mixing bowl, incorporate the meat and liver mixture with the cognac and eggs.

I used duck eggs for extra richness

4.  Line bottom of baking or ceramic pan with overlapping pieces of bacon. Place a bay leaf on the bottom and then fill with meat/liver mixture. Cover top with another bay leaf and then overlapping pieces of bacon.

5.  Place in oven in the larger baking pan and add enough water to cover 2/3rds of the pan containing the meat/liver mixture. Bake for about 1-1.5 hrs, and remove from oven.  The pâté will contract and the juices will be on the bottom. Allow to cool and soak up the juices. Remove any excess bacon and discard the bay leaves.

Six hour bread has crusty goodness

NB.  I clearly didn't read the directions carefully and left the bacon on - oops.  Must be my love of all things pork.

The pâté was part of a Sunday brunch spread, a birthday celebration with dear friends.  Watch for upcoming posts on the rest of the menu: Fire Roasted Chicken; Three Cheese Fritatta and a super-lemony panna cotta with the season's first strawberries.

The table set for a celebratory feast

Roasted garlic for the chicken

Six Hour No Knead Artisanal Bread

There's been lots written about Jim Lahey's 18 hour no knead bread: the crackling brown crust; the airy, chewy delectable interior; the artisanal look; and most of all, the no fuss, no muss no-knead method.  But, as much as I love bread, it just seemed hard to be able to plan for something that far in the future, even if it meant no work on my part.

That's why this six hour version from Bonnie Stern is exactly right for me.  I can stir up the dough right after lunch, tend it one more time and be at the table with hot bread by supper.  What could be better than that?

Six Hour No-Knead Bread
adapted by Bonnie Stern from Jim Lahey's recipe

makes one gorgeous loaf

3½ cups all purpose flour (or a combination of all purpose and whole wheat)

nb. I've long been intrigued by King Arthur Flour - simply because it's not available in Canada and it gets such great raves.  Finally got my hands on some and I have to say the results were fab...

1 tsp instant yeast
1 tbsp kosher salt
1½ c warm water
¼ tsp red wine vinegar
Additional flour
Cornmeal, sesame seeds or bran (optional)

1. Mix the flour, yeast and salt together in a large bowl. 

2.  Combine the water and vinegar and stir into the flour mixture until combined: you will have a soft, sticky dough. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and a tea towel and leave at room temperature for three to four hours.

3.  Prep a baking sheet by covering it with a tea towel, sprinkled generously with flour.  Take the dough (which should be risen and full of bubbles) and spread it in a rectangular shape on the sheet that is approximately 12 x 8".  Cover loosely with plastic wrap, and let rest for 15 minutes.

4.  Place another clean tea towel on a baking sheet on which you have rubbed flour  and sprinkled cornmeal (or bran, etc.). Remove plastic wrap and fold dough into thirds, brushing off flour as you go.  Fold into thirds again to create a pudgy cube: this will become your beautiful boule. Place on the baking sheet and dust the top very lightly with more flour and cornmeal.  Fold the tea towel on top and let rise at room temperature, at least two hours (more is okay).

5.  Forty-five minutes before baking the bread, preheat the oven to 450°F.  Place a heavy large pot with a lid in the oven (for example a Le Creuset Dutch oven) and heat it for 30 minutes.

6.  Take the pot out of the stove and remove the lid.  Placing your hand underneath the dough, lift the boule gently and uncover, shaking off any excess flour and cornmeal over the baking sheet.  Flip the bread into the hot pot, cover and bake for 30 minutes.

7.  After 30 minutes, remove the lid, and bake a further 10-20 minutes, or until the bread is deep golden brown and crusty.* Let cool on a rack.

*When I took off the lid, the bread already looked quite brown to me, but it still needed that extra baking time.  I found that 10 minutes did the trick.

Pecan-Cherry Loaf

With a quart of buttermilk in the fridge from my most recent homemade butter outing, I wanted to do some baking.  A simple sweet bread, bursting with dried cherries and nuts, seemed a good candidate.  Pop a loaf in the freezer for your next Sunday brunch; it's great toasted too.

Pecan-Cherry Loaf
makes two-three loaves

3½ c flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp kosher salt
½ tsp cinammon
2 eggs
1½ c brown sugar
1 c buttermilk*
1 c chopped pecans or walnuts
1 c dried cherries

*I used fresh buttermilk, which is actually quite thin (consistency similar to skim, or non-fat milk).  If you are using regular buttermilk you may need to adjust the quantity, using more to get a thick batter consistency.

1.  Preheat oven to 325°F.  Grease two 4x8 loaf pans or one 5x9 pan (you may have too much batter - so have a mini loaf pan on hand just in case: breakfast for one!)

2.  In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, salt and cinammon; set aside.

3.  In a large bowl, beat eggs. Add sugar and beat until combined.

I love the deep gorgeous yellow of the duck eggs!

4.  Alternating with buttermilk, add flour to egg mixture and stir until just combined.  Stir in nuts and cherries.

5.  Bake about 45-50 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in bread comes out clean. 

6.  Set on a rack to cool; but not too cool - let a pat of butter melt on top of that first slice.