French Fridays with Dorie: Citrus-berry terrine

It seems like SO long ago that I made this week’s French Fridays with Dorie dish – Citrus-berry terrine.  In fact, I served it when we invited friends over to help us eat last month’s hot dogs and weisswurst for Charcutepalooza because I figured after all that meat, we would need a light dessert!  When I saw this was a dessert with gelatin, I knew a few people might turn up their noses (in fact, some of the people at the dinner were the same ones I made suffer through the Weight Watchers’ gelatin fest last year…) so I just didn’t tell them. I said it was a lovely fruity dessert that would cleanse the palate after all that meat!

Since I have been in France, I have seen so many (especially savoury) gelées – they really are popular here, especially in the warmer weather.  The French don’t shun gelatin like many other nationalities. Because you know there’s more to gelatin than Jell-O.

I mean, isn’t that beautiful?  The gorgeous summer berries suspended in the orange gelée really do stop you in your tracks.  I used strawberries, blueberries, blackberries and raspberries as well as the oranges and grapefruit segments and was impressed with the clarity of the gelée, even with all that fruit mixed in!

It’s like the most elevated Jell-O dessert ever. And literally took about 30 minutes to prepare, then a few hours to chill in the fridge (you can chill overnight).

I served it with leftover berries that I macerated in a little sugar to get some juices out of them to make a kind of fruity syrup to pour over.

I really enjoyed this and can see it’s perfect for very warm weather. Unlike, ahem, here in France right now…..  Am not sure I would make it again but I loved learning the technique.

Want to join French Fridays with Dorie? Join here.

French Fridays with Dorie participants do not publish the recipes on our blogs, rather, we prefer if you purchase Around My French Table for yourselves (trust me, you definitely want this book!) which you can do here on Amazon or Amazon Canada. Or for free worldwide shipping, buy from The Book Depository.

Keep up with me this summer through my Summer 2011 Flickr set. I will be updating this with day to day pictures (read: not all food photos!) fairly regularly so head on over there if you are interested. You never know what or who you might see there, like, you know… Dorie….

Also, today I am featured on Franco File Fridays over on Lost in Cheeseland – head on over to check it out!

47 thoughts on “French Fridays with Dorie: Citrus-berry terrine”

  1. Agree that this is the quinessential summer dessert. Too bad there’s so much stigma against gelatine dessert. I was surprised by the clarity too.

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  2. Your berry terrine looks just lovely.

    And I live in Germany so I feel your pain on the weather front, this has been the most miserable summer I can remember. I was sitting at an outdoor cafe yesterday in a turtleneck and scarf!

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  3. This is truly lovely, Mardi.
    I wish something like this had been around in my youth instead of the odd Jell-o salads of potluck lore…

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  4. That is gorgeous! I love that you added those macerated berries…I would have enjoyed that extra sweetness.

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  5. This is a beautiful dessert, that I, a Jell-O, aspic and gelatin enemy, could love. I didn’t grow up with any of those molded Jell-O salads, just regular Jell-0 with the occasional addition of canned pineapple, but I just don’t like the stuff. Hope to change my mind if I keep seeing things as pretty as this. But still — it’s wiggly, right?

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  6. Your terrine looks fantastic and I love the idea of serving it as a ‘palate cleanser’ after your Charcutepalooza meals. The macerated berries look fantastic. I’ll definitely make those when I try it with a grapefruit juice base.

    Reply

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