Rustic Pate

This Rustic Pate is perfect for the Christmas season

Chunks of duck breast, chicken breast and pork tenderloin are marinade and then mixed into seasoned ground pork.

For Christmas, a handful of dried Cranberries and Pistachio nuts were added

The moulds are prepared with strips of bacon or Prosciutto. This time I used  only bacon, regular strips of bacon and double smoked bacon from a Polish store. as I found the Prosciutto dried out and was too salty.  

200 gm each of duck breast, turkey breast and pork tenderloin were marinade in Brandy, Olive Oil, black pepper, minced garlic clove and fresh Thyme.  The fresh Thyme I used was from my garden, covered in snow but still not frozen! 

The marinade was mixed and the pieces of meat marinaded in the refrigerator for 24 hours 

 After the meat was marinaded, it was chopped into 1/2 inches pieces. The turkey marinaded the best as the turkey breast had been pounded as prepared for scallopini.  I would pound the other pieces of meat  the next time I make this pate. 

To the ground pork, ground cumin, freshly grated nutmeg, ginger, hot cayenne and pepper were added.  I did add some Apfelkorn but this is optional.    The ground meat and mixture of meat chunks were mixed well by hand. 
Cook a small patty of meat to check the flavors. 

The chunks of meat were browned in a hot cast iron, but I did skip this step the last time I made the pate.

The moulds were lined with strips of bacon.

Pack the mould with the meat mixture.  Fold the strips of bacon over the ground meat. 

The  dishes were wrapped in tin foil and will be placed in a pan of water and baked in 325 degree for 40 to 60 minutes, depending on the size of the mould.  

I have made this for my son's birthday party last year and it disappeared quickly. 

Supplies
200 gm each of duck breast, turkey breast and pork tenderloin 
2 ground pork packages, about 750 gm each
Fresh Thyme
2-3 cloves garlic. 
fresh ground pepper
1 tsp hot cayenne
2 -4 tsp cumin
fresh grated nutmeg
1 tsp ginger
1/2 c dried Cranberries
1/2 c Pistachio nuts 
bacon 
Olive oil
1/4 c brandy


The spices for the ground meat depend on your preference, I like ground cumin in pork. 
The chunks of meat can also vary, I was thinking that my hunting cousin in Manitoba may want to add venison to the mix.. As I was typing this, I thought of the pheasant breast I have in the freezer, a gift from my neighbours that hunts.