Carrot Terrine with Walnut Sauce

The most distressing thing happened to me -- I went to four different grocery stores before I could find simple goat's cheese.  I went to a Turkish greengrocer where there was feta, feta and more feta.  A Mediterranean supermarket where there was feta, feta, and more feta along with cheddar, parmesan and mozzarella.  Then a Food Coop where there was cheddar, more cheddar, feta, mozzarella  and parmesan.  Then finally I went to a Sainsbury and there was goat's cheese amongst the feta, cheddar and parmesan.  I'm in London, guys.  I know stores stock based on the demographics of the area but I live in Kentish Town, one of the "Whitest" areas in London supposedly, and no goat's cheese? 

But then I did a bit of research and discovered the problem.  This area has no continental Europeans.  It's largely British and hence no goat's cheese.  Or camembert.  Or brie or any other standard supermarket cheeses. 

So let's talk about this terrine.  I made this twice and the first time the terrine was better, more even, neater, but unfortunately my photographs were awful.  And this time the terrine isn't as nice.  Eee.  Well, let's focus on the taste here.  The carrots are sweet, the goat's cheese is salty, the walnuts are earthy and as we know from carrot cakes, they work beautifully with carrots. 

Get yourself a nice rectangular mould or like a standard bread tin, and you can use tin foil and cardboard as a stopper to...well, make the mould smaller if you know what I mean.

This recipe is actually for a competition for Simply Health.  Basically I had to choose an ingredient from their healthy list and make something and now I shall tweet to them and hashtag this thing.  Wish me luck. Check out their infograph here to see all the health benefits of carrots and other healthy ingredients.  They say carrots "act like a natural toothbrush" and.. oh look, they're all good for your teeth and gums, salmon and ginger are good for your teeth and gums, did you know that?

Serves 2
Ingredients
4 large carrots, peeled
150-200g soft goat's cheese
Olive oil
sugar

Walnut sauce and garnish
1/2 cup walnuts, toasted
olive oil
milk
mint leaves

Method
Slice the carrots into planks of about 3mm thick.  Lengthwise they should fit your rectangular mould.  Place them in a large pan of water, enough to cover.  Add a tbsp of olive oil, a tsp of salt and a tsp of sugar.  Bring to a boil and leave to boil until the carrots are tender.  Drain them on a paper towel and leave to cool. 

Meanwhile line a rectangular mold with cling film, leaving quite a bit of overhang. 

Work the goat's cheese with a fork just to loosen it up.  Add a touch of olive oil to make it thinner along with some black pepper. 

Like a lasagna, put a layer of carrots at the bottom of the mold, have them all packed close together.  Spread a layer of goat's cheese and repeat until you get to the top or until you use up your carrots/goats cheese.  Wrap up cling film.  Put a weight on it and put it in the fridge for at least 2 hours.

Make the sauce by putting the walnuts (not all, set aside a couple for garnish) in a food processor and whiz until a paste forms, like a thick peanut butter.  Add a bit of seasoning, some olive oil and some milk.  Whiz until it's a smooth sauce.

Plating: put the sauce in the middle of the plate.  Toast some walnuts in a dry pan and Sprinkle around.  Take the terrine out and using a sharp knife, cut into slices.  Place on top of the sauce and sprinkle on some torn mint leaves.