Sausage, Bacon and Black Pudding Terrine

I came up with this idea for those of us who love an occasional treat of a Full English breakfast, but who just can’t face all the cooking and frying on a Sunday morning, not to mention all the washing up afterwards! 

Just prepare and cook this terrine on a Saturday afternoon, leave to cool and slice up ready for the morning.  Leftovers can be frozen and simply need defrosting before reheating on a griddle when you want a good breakfast. 

All you need with this are some grilled tomatoes, maybe a fried or scrambled egg and a piece of toast. 

I used : 

1 ½ x 450g packs of Cumberland sausages

250g whole black sausage (cut to fit your tin)

10 medium thickness rashers of bacon 

2lb loaf tin

 

Firstly line your loaf tin with the rashers (slices) of bacon, overlapping one another and overhanging the sides of the loaf tin. 

Skin the sausages and place in a basin, season to taste with a little salt and black pepper (and some fresh sage if you have some to hand), and then mix to form a large ball of sausage meat. 

Take half of the sausage meat and layer in the bottom of the loaf tin, on top of the bacon.  Cut the black pudding to fit your loaf tin and place that on top of the bottom layer of sausage meat.  Take the remainder of the sausage meat and form it around, and on top of the black pudding, encasing it completely. 

Finally, fold over the overhanging bacon to cover the sausage meat. 

Bake at 190^oC  / 375^oF  /  gas mark 5 for 45 minutes.  Turn out of the loaf tin and place on an oven proof plate or tray and pop back into the oven to brown the sides and (now) top of the terrine.

 

You can eat it straight away, or you can leave to cool and slice up, reheating in a griddle pan, under the grill or in the oven when you are ready.

 

Malt Loaf

I was helping out at a cricket tea recently and slicing up a very dry looking shop-bought malt loaf got me thinking about the first time I ever tasted malt loaf.  I don’t know if my tastes have changed over the years, or if the malt loaf (same brand!) tasted a lot nicer 30 years ago!! 

Then, in the way only an addled middle-aged memory can, my mind wandered off down a path and fast-forwarded to 20 years ago when I used to make malt loaf, from a recipe an Aunt gave me.  I used to soak the bran and fruit overnight, and come home after my stint at the colliery where I worked then and finish mixing and then bake it. 

It’s very much like my bara brith recipe in that you leave half the ingredients soaking overnight then just stir in a beaten egg and flour to finish. 

This is a lovely breakfast bread, the bran and fruit in it very good for the digestive system and it’s a fat free loaf too.  It’s absolutely delicious toasted and then spread with butter, but equally good cold and with a slice of cheese on the side! 

I hope you enjoy this lovely simple loaf as much as my family did.

After soaking, before adding the egg

1 cup self raising flour

1 egg

1 cup all bran

1 cup mixed fruit

½ cup sugar

1 cup milk 

Place the all bran, fruit, sugar and milk in a large basin and leave overnight to soak. 

The following day, stir in a beaten egg and then add the flour and mix well. 

Turn into a lined 2lb loaf tin and bake at 180^oC (350^oF / gas mark 4) for an hour.

I would like to dedicate this recipe to my late Auntie Marj, who kindly gave me the recipe.  Gone, but never forgotten.

Poached Eggs

I don’t want to teach my grandmother to suck eggs (or poach them in this instance!), but this is such an easy way to poach eggs that it deserves to be shared. 

It came about because I’m a bit of a farty with poaching eggs in pans of boiling water – I’ve never been able to do it properly (!) and I’m far, far too impatient to wait for an egg to poach in a poacher or a poach pod.  

One day I tried doing it this way, and it was such a roaring success that I’ve been doing it this way ever since.  It takes as long as the toast takes to cook so have everything ready to roll! 

Firstly, fill and boil a kettle. 

Then smear a deep frying pan with a little oil and break the eggs into the pan.  Put on the hob (stove) to cook and then put the toast into the toaster.   

As soon as the egg whites are beginning to set (i.e. the bottoms are completely white in the pan) pour in the boiling water gently.  Spoon the water over the yolks to set them as you like them.  I like mine runny so I turn the heat under the pan off as soon as the boiling water goes in.  If you like your yolks set, spoon the boiling water over the yolks until they are cooked through. 

Butter the toast and lift the eggs from the pan with a spatula – you may need to separate the whites though.  I’m not very keen on the whites so I always cut most of them away – I use a cookie cutter.