Gammon

When we have gammon I always cook it in the pressure cooker using the method described in my trusty old pressure cooker manual. This is getting increasingly illegible thanks to the splashes of gammon stock, so here's a photo of it. I cooked this a couple of days ago, and planned to take a photo, but it proved such a hit that we had eaten it before I remembered.

Basically you need to soak a smoked gammon joint in cold water for a couple of hours, then drain it put it into the pressure cooker, cover with water and bring to the boil. You then drain it again (the idea being to get rid of excess salt, although it still ends up pretty salty). Then put it back in the pressure cooker, almost cover it with cold water, add a bayleaf, some leek or onion, a carrot, and any other herbs you happen to have (thyme and sage are good). Bring it up to pressure and cook it under pressure for 12 minutes per 400g. You take it off the heat at the end of cooking and let the pressure come down on its own.

I usually serve it with roast potatoes and whatever veg I have on hand. Roasted cauliflower is good (sprinkle with cumin seeds, salt and pepper and toss with olive oil before roasting for about 25 mins). This time I made a creamy leek and cava sauce to serve with it as I had a solitary leek lurking in the fridge and the dregs of a bottle of cava on the side. I gently sauteed the leek in butter for a few minutes until it was soft, threw in a couple of teaspoons of cornflour and cooked that out. Then I poured in the cava (about 1 small glass), stirring to over a gentle heat to cook off the alcohol, then stirred in some milk and some of the stock from the gammon, stirring all the time as the sauce thickened, then I finished it with a little single cream and some seasoning. Any white sauce made with a roux base (about 25g each butter and cornflour cooked together) and a mixture of the stock and milk to thicken works well - chopped parsley  is a good addition.

Whatever you do, don't throw away the stock after cooking the gammon - it is the perfect base for my favourite spilt pea and bacon soup. As it is very salty however, you do need to dilute one to one with water if you use it for this recipe.