Okay, so I have to admit I am not a big terrine fan … it’s savoury, it’s cold, it’s not as things should be… but that’s me.  I have had a couple of taste testers on the case for this one from Gabriel Gaté and they assure me that it is ‘really good’, however some suggestions that it could be improved by serving it on some dark rye  (although that could just be the Russian heritage coming to the fore!).

I did try this one, in the spirit of the challenge and was pleasantly surprised.  While the cold, almost jellied texture of the cucumber is a strange mouth sensation, the smokey firm texture of the trout offers some firmness to the bite and relief from the cool saltiness of the cucumber.  Not quite sure what the egg adds to the mix…

Overall, I felt this recipe was lacking something in texture overall and next time I would love to try this served on little baby toasts as an hors d’oeuvre just to get some contrasting crunch.  Anyway, enough of the MasterChef speak … time to show you how you can try this at home!

Ingredients

• 3 telegraph cucumbers (about 1.3 kg total)
• 2 tbsp coarse salt
• 8 titanium-strength gelatine leaves (or 11 gold-strength)
• freshly ground pepper
• ½ cup finely sliced dill
• 1 cup crème fraîche
• a little olive oil
• 2 hard-boiled eggs
• 3 smoked trout fillets, skinned and boneless

How to do it

Firstly peel the cucumbers and slice them in half length ways before using a teaspoon to scrape out the seeds.  Once the seeds are removed dice the cucumber into chunks and place into a large bowl with the coarse sea salt.  Mix the salt through and leave to stand for an hour or so to draw out the excess moisture from the cucumber.

Hard boil two eggs and leave to cool before peeling and slicing thinly (an egg slicer helps if you have one.)

Strain the juice off the cucumber in a colander and then rinse thoroughly under running cold water before setting aside to drain well.

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While the cucumber is draining, place the gelatine leaves in a large bowl of cold water.  Leave to stand for 10 minutes or so  until leaves are softened.

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While the gelatine is softening in the water, gently heat the crème fraîche in a small saucepan. When it is just warm (it doesn’t need to boil) squeeze the excess water out of the gelatine leaves and add them to the warmed crème fraîche and stir until dissolved.

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Puree the cucumber with a stick mixer and stir through some freshly cracked pepper and the finely chopped dill.   Then stir through the warm crème fraîche until well mixed.

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Oil an 8 inch ring time or a 6 cup capacity loaf tin with olive oil and line the base with the egg slices.

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Top this with half of the cucumber mixture.  Onto this, place the trout fillets and the top gently with the remaining cucumber mixture.  You can do two layers of trout if you want with three layers of cucumber mix, just do whatever works best with your mold.

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Cover the top of the mold with clingfilm and refrigerate for at least 6 hours or overnight.  When set, to unmold simply rest the mold in some warm water in the sink for a few moments to loosen before gently turning out onto a serving plate.  Garnish with some sprigs of dill and serve.