Lamb shank terrine(3 cup terrine form)

1 cup dried cannelini beans

½ carrot

½ onion

1 bay leaf

2 cups shredded lamb from braised lamb shank

~½  cup braising liquid to moisten shank meat

1 cup seasoned chicken stock

2 sheets gelatin

1 bunch asparagus

6 leaves napa cabbage l

The kick is taking that cheap cut of meat, tough and stringy, a sign of hard times, a sign of a family with a lot of mouths to feed, taking that humble cut and turning it into something elegant and refined. We will model our terrine on the concept of a rustic bowl of white beans with napa cabbage and asparagus topped with a lamb shank that has been braised slowly and gently for several hours.

For the body of the terrine we will take the lamb shank and shred it and bind it with the gelatin rich braising liquid. Combine with white beans and asparagus carefully arranged to present well in the cut terrine. The terrine is wrapped in napa cabbage for a colorfully framed slice. Before we can build our terrine we’ve got to prep our ingredients.

Maybe step one. We are assuming you have done the previous recipe and have some leftover lamb shank braised and languishing in your fridge. If not braise some lamb shanks.

Probably step one. Soak your one cup of cannellini beans for 6 hours in double their volume cold water. Drain and rinse. Place in a 2qt saucepan and add cold water cover by an inch. Bring to the boil, skim any scum and add half a carrot, half an onion and a bay leaf. Simmer gently till tender adding water if needed to keep the beans covered. To test take a couple beans and cool in the freezer for a minute. They should be tender with no starchy feeling on the tongue. If done season the cooking liquid with salt to taste and gently stir. Let cool in the cooking liquid and refrigerate overnight. The texture will become silkier overnight.

Step two. Remove the shank from the cold braising liquid. Remove the surface layer of fat from the braising liquid. warm the shank and liquid. This melts the braising liquid and softens the meat so that you can shred it with your fingers. Leave some pieces larger to add some variety to the texture, while you’re eating if you come across a chunk it keeps your mouth interested. Toss the shredded lamb with the braising liquid. It should be wet. Taste it. Remember you are tasting warm now, but serving cold so season strongly, the cold will kill some of the salt.

Step three. Bring lots of salted water to the boil. Prepare an ice bath.

Separate single leaves of napa cabbage from the head. How many you need will depend on how big your mold is which depends on how much lamb you have. We have about two cups of lamb so we’ll blanch 3-4 leaves. Blanch extra. It’s a bummer to stop in the middle of building the terrine to blanch more leaves. Plunge leaves into the boiling water, the color will intensify and the leaf will wilt. 15 seconds should do. Take em out and plunge into your ice bath. Remove from the ice bath and put on a towel lined sheet pan. The leaves will be holding a lot of water so you’ll have to pat them dry thoroughly.

Cut off the bottom 2-3 inches from your bunch of asparagus. Plunge into the boiling water and this time we are not only setting the color but also cooking. How long depends on the size of your asparagus. 30-45 seconds was long enough for our thin stalks. Just pull one out and throw it in your ice bath, pull it out and eat it then you’ll know. Take em out and ice bath em for a couple of minutes. Remove to a sheet pan.

Step four. Bloom two sheets of gelatin in cold water for ten minutes. Warm one cup of seasoned chicken stock. Melt the gelatin in the warm stock, pass through a sieve.

So now were ready we have white beans, asparagus, napa cabbage, shredded lamb, and gelled chicken stock. Lets go.

Step five, build it. We’re going to line a 3cup mold with plastic wrap. Oiling the mold helps hold the plastic in place. Begin with the bottom of the mold forcing the plastic into all the corners and edges. You’ll see that at the start you’ll push the on one side and the other side will come up. So you’ll end up working on opposite edges or corners at the same time. Smooth the sides while holding down the plastic on the base so as not to lose your carefully won edges.

Pare down the thick rib of the cabbage leaf so it will lay flat.  Run the cabbage leaves through the chicken stock and line the mold with them, leaving and inch or two overhang.

Mix the lamb to evenly distribute the liquid throughout and put a thin layer of lamb over the leaves.

Run the asparagus through the chicken stock and lay over the lamb. Once the layer is complete press down to fill in the spaces between the asparagus.

Top with another thin layer of lamb.

Run the beans through the chicken stock and lay over the lamb again pressing to fill spaces.

Layer of lamb

Layer of asparagus

Layer of lamb and fold the flaps of cabbage over the top and cover with the flaps of plastic wrap. Press down.

Refrigerate weighted terrine overnight. The easiest way is to use the same form which will fit just right and put it on top and fill it with a bag of beans or rice or whatever. We didn’t have the matching form so we used a container filled with water.

Here we are its game day gonna cut the terrine and see how it came out. Turn the terrine out of the mold. Pulling on the plastic wrap to help it release. Any slicing knife would be fine. If the terrine is delicate you could warm the knife in a bain marie of warm water. If you plan to cut the whole terrine you would want to clean and dry the knife in between every couple of slices. Et viola hey super from humble to elegant. We’ll serve the terrine with an herb sauce, faux gribicheish, containing herbs, hardboiled egg, olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper.

To hard boil eggs, cover eggs with cold water in a pot of your choice, bring to a boil, turn off the heat and cover. Let sit for 11 minutes. Cool in an ice bath. Rough them up in the ice bath. You want the shells to crack a bit. We want a set yolk but with no green ring which comes from overcooking.