Duck terrine
Any meal can be the ideal Hollywood Bowl meal. It’s just that some suppers are more ideal for certain evenings than others. A tuna sandwich and a beer work for a night when you’ve made a last-minute decision to grab some cheap seats up in the bleachers. A box dinner from your favorite restaurant is a convenient choice when you’ve made a park-and-ride bus reservation.
But a wonderfully cool, easily packed, tres civilized three-course meal is just the ticket when you’re hosting a Bowl evening. Conjure up a menu for four with the kind of pacing the orchestra director aims for in an evening’s classical program: Begin with an attention-getting flourish, move on to something substantial but suited for the season and setting as the main event, and finish impressively (fireworks aren’t necessary).
This is not the occasion for a potluck -- you’ll end up with too many bags to carry up the hill and too many plates to fit onto either your portion of a shared picnic table or onto one of the little tables supplied for box seats. But hosting the party doesn’t mean hassling -- it’s a matter of making smart choices and planning.
Although the air cools after dark, it’s almost always sultry during dining hour at the Bowl. So plan a cold meal. With today’s insulated carriers and picnic baskets, it’s easy to pack the dishes and keep them chilled.
A menu of cold zucchini soup to start, duck terrine with a tomato and frisee salad for a main course, and a selection of exotic, homemade date sweetmeats for dessert is more substantial than it might sound, but not so heavy as to induce preconcert torpor. It’s a quietly elegant meal that can be enjoyed course by course in the head-swiveling environment of this enormous outdoor amphitheater.
Everyone arrives early, the better to score a picnic table or avoid traffic. So in the giddy, party atmosphere of the preconcert hours, you’ll want a first course that is easy to serve and provides an immediate sense of celebration. Transport the chilled puree soup, which is wonderfully garden-y and herbal, in a stylish insulated carafe; pour individual servings at the table and add a crisp pinch of chopped basil to each. Serve it with a bubbly, dry Prosecco.
As the sun sinks and the Bowl’s thousands of seats fall into shadow, while stagehands wheel out the grand piano or adjust the conductor’s platform, serve the main course. Though compact and easy to pack, duck terrine is a rich and satisfying entree -- and it’s a delightfully unexpected choice.
A sophisticated loaf of duck, Serrano ham, mushrooms and Swiss chard, the terrine takes some advance preparation; it should be made the day before and chilled overnight.
A single slice will probably suffice for each guest, served with a salad of frisee and tomatoes (no soggy greens; the frisee holds its crunch through packing) with a mustardy vinaigrette that pairs well with the duck.
You’ll want to linger over the light red wine you’ve served with the duck terrine (a Cotes du Rhone or a Dolcetto would be perfect), so wait until intermission to bring out dessert. Again, leave the elaborate pastries or messy mousses to less Bowl-savvy diners and create a finger-food finish that’s great fun in the casual but art-loving atmosphere.
Medjool dates are large and meltingly sweet. It’s so easy to turn them into an elegant dessert that it’s almost cheating. Use three contrasting mixtures to stuff the dates -- blue cheese-almond, goat cheese-Grand Marnier-chocolate, and marzipan-pistachio -- and you’ll experience a pleasant panoply of flavor combinations along the savory-to-sweet spectrum.
Serve with chilled Muscat de Beaumes-de-Venise and coffee to continue to sip as the lights dim and the music begins again.
Remove the skin from the duck, setting aside two pieces of breast skin, to be placed on top of the terrine before baking.
Put the remaining skin in a saucepan with a cover and cook over medium-low heat for 20 to 30 minutes until the fat is rendered from the duck. Cool, then strain the duck fat into a container. Chill the duck fat in the refrigerator until the fat is set. Any unused fat can be kept in the refrigerator for future use.
Remove the meat from the duck bones. Cut one duck breast into three-fourth-inch cubes and set aside.
Into a large bowl, grind the remaining duck meat through the small plate of a meat grinder. Stir in the cubed duck meat and minced Serrano ham. Chill the ground meat while preparing remaining ingredients.
Heat the oven to 350 degrees.
In a medium skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of chilled duck fat over medium heat, add the onion and saute 3 to 5 minutes, until the onion is tender and begins to brown around the edges. Add the mushrooms and saute 3 to 6 minutes, until the mushrooms begin to brown and are tender and release their juices. Add the garlic during the last minute of cooking. Let cool.
In a large pot of boiling salted water, blanch the Swiss chard about 1 minute until it turns bright green. Shock in ice water, then drain, pat dry and finely chop.
Add one-half cup of cold duck fat, the mushroom mixture, chopped Swiss chard, Cognac, thyme, nutmeg, beaten egg, salt and pepper to the ground duck and lightly stir until ingredients are blended.
Coat a 9-by-3 3/4 -inch terrine with some of the chilled duck fat. Pat the duck mixture into the terrine.
Put the skin from the duck breast over the top of the terrine. Cover with foil and place the terrine on a baking sheet. Bake it for 30 minutes, then uncover and continue to bake 20 to 30 minutes or until juices from the center of the terrine look clear.
Let stand at room temperature until cool. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
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