Serve a slice of this vegetable terrine, from Chef Stéphane Reynaud’s new book, Terrine, with a hunk of crusty bread and some simple salad greens for an elegant spring brunch or a light lunch. It’s also ideal for an afternoon picnic, with its assortment of vegetables and herbs loaded into a creamy custard.

Special equipment: You can find terrine molds at specialty kitchen stores and online at Surfas. If you don’t want to buy one, you can substitute a 9-inch loaf pan.

This recipe was featured as part of our Terrines Made Easy story.

Photo Credit: Charlotte Lascève

  • Yield: 10 to 12 servings
  • Difficulty: Medium
  • Total: 1 hr 55 mins
  • Active: 30 mins

Ingredients (12)

  • 100 g / 3 1/2 oz (3/4 cup) broad beans (fava beans)
  • 1 tablespoon cooking salt
  • 100 g / 3 1/2 oz (scant 1 cup) petits pois (baby peas)
  • 100 g / 3 1/2 oz broccoli, cut into florets
  • 100 g / 3 1/2 oz green beans, cut into 1-cm / 1/2-inch lengths
  • 100 g / 3 1/2 oz new carrots, diced
  • 100 g / 3 1/2 oz (scant 1 cup) celery hearts, diced
  • 4 eggs
  • 300 ml / 1/2 pint (1 1/4 cups) double (heavy) cream
  • 2 fresh tarragon sprigs
  • 2 fresh basil sprigs, chopped
  • Salt and pepper

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 180ºC / 350ºF / Gas Mark 4. Pop the broad beans out of their skins by squeezing gently between your index finger and thumb. Bring a pan of water to the boil, stir in the cooking salt, add the petits pois and broccoli and blanch for 30 seconds. Remove from the pan, refresh in iced water and drain. Add the green beans, carrots and celery to the pan and cook for 5–10 minutes, until tender but still firm to the bite. Drain and refresh under cold water. Whisk the eggs with the cream in a bowl and add the petits pois, broccoli, green beans, carrots, celery, broad beans, tarragon and basil. Season with salt and pepper.
  2. Line a terrine with cling film (plastic wrap), allowing it to overhang the sides. Spoon in the vegetable mixture, wrap the overhanging cling film over the top to seal and put the terrine into a roasting tin (roasting pan). Pour in boiling water to come about halfway up the sides and bake for 40 minutes, until the tip of a knife inserted into the centre comes out clean. Turn out and remove the cling film before serving. Serve warm or cold.

Beverage pairing: Domaine Vocoret & Fils Chablis, France. Eggs and cream suggest a white wine of the richer variety, such as Chardonnay. But the fresh spring vegetables with green herbs want a wine that’s a little racier and punchy. The answer is Chablis, Chardonnay grown on pure limestone soils in northern France, a wonderful combiner of rich and racy, stabilized with a mineral core.

Recipe from TERRINE by Stéphane Reynaud (Phaidon, $29.95), www.phaidon.com