Vegetable Terrines with Tomato Sauce

I ROASTED BELL PEPPERS AT HOME FOR THE 1st TIME- yayy so proud!!!
I made this recipe from a cookbook but made some additions of my own by skipping some ingredients and including some of my favorite veggies, some flavors and some other little tweaks. This dish turned out looking so great that I was super excited to photograph it. Sometimes I feel that I try to make fancy looking dishes only because I am so interested in photographing them (which I am still trying to learn)! But it tasted good so I guess its kind of justified.
A Terrine as far as I know is a French dish and is mostly like a compressed loaf of either vegetables or meat or a combination of both with some kind of a cream or cheese mixture to hold everything together. It is served in individual portions.
The vegetables held their flavor and their shape really well when I made it this Sunday and it turned out looking very appealing to the eye as well. The tomato sauce is a bit spicy and has a kick to it. I added some fennel seeds to it since the original recipe had fennel bulb as one of the ingredient- so I thought it would really compliment the flavor and enhance it. The sauce also balances the terrine really well as there isn’t a lot of seasoning involved while preparing the vegetables.
This dish is a bit of a lengthy process as you have to cook these vegetables individually and then arrange it and bake in the oven etc. To save time you can make the sauce and roast bell peppers a day or two in advance. It would get very tiresome if you try to make it for a big gathering but it’s perfect for 2 or 3 people. Serve it with nice crusty bread and your favorite green salad and enjoy it on a nice summery Sunday afternoon!
Things you will need:
For Terrine
Eggplant (cut into rounds)
Zucchini (cut diagonal)
Fennel Bulb (cut into rounds)
Roasted bell peppers (a combination of red and green)
Ricotta cheese (I used whole milk)
Baby portabella mushrooms (finely chopped)
Leeks (finely chopped)
Flat leaf parsley (finely chopped)
Salt and pepper
Olive oil for cooking
For Sauce
4 tomatoes (chopped & roasted in the oven at 350F with olive oil and garlic for about 1 1/2 hour)
1 medium onion (finely chopped)
1 tbs tomato paste
2 tsp fennel seeds
1 tbs crushed red chilly flakes
Salt
Olive oil for cooking

Sauce
Stir fry the chopped onion in some olive oil till it turns transparent. Add the chilly flakes, and fennel seeds, cook for another min Then add the tomatoes & cook for 2 min, add and tomato paste and mix well. With a hand blender, blend it into a smooth sauce, add some water if you feel the need - you want a sauce like texture and not a thick paste. Put it back on low heat as you want it to stay warm when you serve it.

Terrines
With some olive oil in the pan- cook the vegetables (eggplant, zucchini and fennel) in separate batches with some salt and drain on a paper towel. In another pan sauté the leeks and mushrooms with some salt and once cooked through mix it with the ricotta cheese. Also add chopped parsley and some black pepper to the cheese mixture. Butter the sides of ramekins and put aluminum foil at the bottom (the idea is to arrange these veggies in layers and bake it for sometime- buttering the dish will help in turning the terrines out into a plate for the final presentation). Start arranging the veggies and cheese in the ramekin in no specific order but this is how I did it- eggplant, bell pepper, cheese mixture, fennel, zucchini and then eggplant again. Press it lightly and bake it in a preheated oven at 400F for 12 to 15 min. Let it cool for 3 min after taking out of the oven and turn it out on a plate. Put some sauce on the side and serve it with your favorite greens. Enjoy!

Category : Entree
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