Family Gammon and Braised Red Cabbage.

Roast Gammon.

This is just a cracking meal for all occasions.It is my go to for a laid back Sunday Lunch, Boxing Day or entertaining friends and family. It always seems to go down a storm with adults and children alike. It’s the Sausage, Chips and Beans of the Sunday Lunch, and as is my want, it is crazily easy to prepare and will sit  in comfortable silence awaiting it’s  curtain call. That allows me to prepare sides in a ridiculously laconic manner, this morning I did it  in my pyjamas, think Jo Brand in toasties, with bad hair and make up still down my face from the night before but more importantly with not an anxious thought in sight. Absolutely love it and you cannot believe how many delicious different accompaniments go with this sweet and salty hunk of Ham. I always try to have one of them wet if you know what I mean, just to oil the wheels otherwise the whole meal may be a little dry. So there is only one real possibility of a F..k up and that’s the quality of the meat. Personally I don’t like to eat Danish intensively reared Pigs and the English bred Pigs are usually super expensive so I wait for Supermarket half price offers (usually Tescos) and will buy a couple and freeze. That’s not to say that the Danish Gammon does not taste good, annoyingly it does. But I would prefer to support a happier piggy life than a downright miserable one. In order to assure  the quality of the meat I rely on its Provenance and buy a superior Supermarket brand. Nowadays you don’t have to soak and boil the gammon before cooking to remove saltiness but I always rinse it under the tap.

For this Family Xmas meal I am serving it with Roast Potatoes and Red Cabbage. The Red Cabbage can also be made ahead and just reheated. Infact we might as well just call this a b….y ready meal and cover it with clingfilm.

Red Cabbage

• 1 Red Cabbage,stalk removed and chopped into strips
• 2 tbsps balsamic vinegar
• 2 tbsps soft brown sugar
• 2 sharpish apples peeled and cut into half moons about 1 cm thick
• 2 red onions cut into half moons about 0.5 cm thick.

METHOD

1. Add all the ingredients to a large saucepan and stir well as the butter melts and simmer gently for five mins.
2. Cover and simmer gently for 30 mins or so until the cabbage becomes soft and tender.
3. Taste for seasoning

Gammon

Place in a roasting tray and cover with foil. Cooking times are 30 minutes per 500g plus 30 mins- so for my joint of 2.642 g cooking time is 3 hrs and 5 mins at 180 centigrade. Half an hour before the gammon is ready remove the foil.

I often when the Gammon is cooked cover with foil and a towel or two to keep it warm for an hour or so for convenience.It gives you your oven back when you’re juggling and one less thing to get frazzled about.

You can glaze the Gammon although I don’t tend to. All that is required is to remove the Gammon half an hour before it’s cooking time is up and tear off the top layer of fat and skin using a cloth to protect your hands. Then score the remaining fat in a criss cross pattern and smear on 2 tbsp of English Mustard and then sprinkle with 2 tbsps of Demerara Sugar. Roast for a further 30 mins.

Apply to Swiney Snout.

Here is another Fabulous and fabulously easy Sunday Lunch recipe – Roast Beef Brisket

I have linked this recipe with Cook Blog Share with Easy Peasy Foodie,Cook Once Eat Twice with Corina at Searching for Spice. and The Food Calender at Charlottes Lively Kitchen

Share this...

Facebook

Twitter

Google+

Pinterest

StumbleUpon

Yummly