Viande Meats & Sausage is a fabulous Portland charcuterie shop. I first tried their Chicken Liver Pâté With Brandy Soaked Currants and Roasted Pistachios at Portland Farmers Market . It is baked in a terrine, unmolded and sold by the block or by the slice. The display at the viande booth was lovely. Ben offered a sample and it was love at first site.
We purchased a generous sized slice and took it back to our fabulous hotel room. We polished it off with a tray of fruits purchased at the market (figs and grapes and plums), crusty bread --also from the farmers market-- and some delicious garlic and chives chèvre fromage blanc (again, purchased that morning at the market).
Weeks later, when Derrick Schneider from An Obsession With Food announced he was hosting installment number nine of Is My Blog Burning? I was relieved I would not have to scrounge around for ingredients, equipment or ideas. I already had it all at my fingertips.
I had the perfect vessel, my new, petite and quite lovely--if I may say so myself-- French Porcelain Pâté Terrine, plenty of currants, brandy and pistachios in the pantry and the recipe for this pâté. It was only a matter of visiting either Don & Joe's at the market or my favorite kosher butcher, Amir, at University Village QFC and buy the freshest, most beautiful livers they had.
The only issue was time. I would have to prepare the Pâté the evening before Mr. C and I were leaving to Vancouver for the weekend. We would be back late Sunday night and I hoped we would get back in time to post the entry and email Derrick before the clock struck midnight. The biggest downside to this proposition was the fact that there would not be any natural light around to take a good picture of the pâté so I would have to improvise.
On Wednesday, out of the blue, we received an invite to the grand opening of a new café in Belltown Friday night. Italian menu no less. 5-10 pm. Temptation! No time to cook. Then on Friday afternoon, after a long day of work, a last minute call from my friend and neighbor J. She had tickets for Benaroya Hall--Royal Fireworks Music & 'Brandenburg' Concerti. What to do? What to do? Stay home and make the terrine or go to the concert and purchase a ready-made entry?
And it was then that the fate of my terrine was sealed. It was hard but I just could not let the chance of listening to such beautiful music pass me by. So it was Bach and Handel over Terrine. And that also meant that by the time I returned home from the concert, it would be too later to make the terrine. I still had to pack for the weekend, get up at 5 and be at King Station by 7.
Since there wasn't much time left before the concert to go to Eastlake and pick up really good pâté at The Seattle Caviar Company--the best in town in my opinion--I drove to Larry's and picked up my second favorite, a terrine of duck and foie gras mousse with Sauternes. Then a quick stop at their cheese counter for a tiny portion of their Cabecou Feuille and some beautifully creamy Explorateur.
I came home, looked for the little jars of Mostarda d'Uva and Confetture di Fichi I had purchased last week at The Cheese Cellar, set up my plate and took the picture while there was still light out. This beautiful tray of delicious treats would be my post-concert dinner while I packed for the weekend. The rest, I took with us to have on the train on the way to Vancouver. Not a single morsel of any of it was wasted.
I'll make the Viande pâté next week--with more time--and will post the results at a later date.
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