Meat and Bean Pasta Salad

Ingredients:

225g cooked lamb, diced

225g salami, skinned and diced

3 thick slices cooked ham, diced

225g English cucumber, diced

2 granny Smith apples, cored and cited

225g cooked macaroni

2-3 spring onions, chopped

Small can butter beans, drained

125ml mayonnaise

12,5ml lemon juice

5ml Worcestershire sauce

Lettuce

Method:

Combine all the ingredients except the mayonnaise, lemon juice and Worcestershire sauce in a large salad bowl.

Blend the mayonnaise, lemon juice and Worcestershire sauce and pour over the salad mixture. Toss lightly, ensuring all the ingredients are covered with the dressing. Serve on a bed of lettuce.

Pastry Appetizers with Ham and Gruyère Cheese

Ingredients:

4-5 Puff pastry sheets from the supermarket
150 grams gruyère cheese cut in slithers
150 grams shoulder ham cut in pieces1 egg lightly beaten 
Pinch of sea salt

Method:

Preheat the oven to 190 C.

Roll out the pastry sheets and cut each sheet in two.

Load the ham and cheese on the sheets in a line down the middle. Moisten one side with beaten egg. Roll up the pastry fairly tight and cut each roll into three pieces. Transfer these pieces to a baking tray lined with baking paper. Repeat this with the rest of the pastry sheets until all the rolls are loaded on the baking tray.

Brush the top of each roll with beaten egg and sprinkle with a little sea salt.

Place the baking tray with the pastry rolls in the middle of the oven and bake for 22-25 minutes, until golden and brown.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool. 

Enjoy!

Brie, Ham and Watercress Calzone

Calzone are Italian turnovers or pies made with pizza or focaccia dough, filled with tasty ingredients, folded over and shaped into a crescent. Typically they are stuffed with tomato and mozzarella, but they may include other vegetables, meats or cheeses; the choice is endless.

Ingredients:

1 quantity of Focaccia dough.

1 small red onion, thinly sliced

150g Brie, sliced

100g honey cured ham torn into pieces

86g watercress leaves

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to season

Method:

Preheat the oven to 230C.

Make up the Focaccia dough and allow the first rising. Knock back the dough, divide into four pieces and shape each into a ball. Roll each out on a lightly floured surface to about a 9 inch diameter.

Top one side of each circle with onion, Brie, ham and watercress. Leave about an inch at the edge of the dough circle to allow for sealing. Season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Wet the edge of the dough with water using a pastry brush or your fingers. Fold and stretch the dough over to enclose the filling, pinch and twist the edges together to seal, making a twisted point at each end of the calzone.

Transfer to a baking tray, shape into a crescent and lightly dust with flour. Bake for 10-15 minutes on the top shelf of the oven until the calzone are pale golden on top.

Serve warm with salad.

Potato, Mushroom and Parma Ham Terrine

This luxurious starter is quick and easy to put together,

but needs to be done the day before it is required

so that it can be pressed overnight and set in the fridge.

Buy the Parma ham freshly sliced and laid out on waxed paper

to prevent the pieces sticking together.

You can use any mushrooms you prefer,

but I find button or chestnut mushrooms work the best

because they keep their firm texture when sauteed.

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Ingredients:

650g firm potatoes like Maris Piper or Desiree

12 slices Parma Ham

200g butter

100g mushrooms, thinly sliced

30ml chopped fresh chives

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to season

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For the dressing:

2 plum tomatoes, skinned, deseeded and finely chopped

45ml balsamic vinegar

grated zest and juice of 1 lemon

100ml olive oil

15-20ml chopped fresh parsley

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Method:

Boil the potatoes in their skins in a pan of lightly salted water for about 15 minutes until tender.

Drain and leave to cool a little.

When the are cool enough to touch, peel and cut into 1/2 inch slices.

Melt the butter in a pan and saute the mushrooms for a couple of minutes until they take on a translucent appearance.

Line a loaf tin with clingfilm, pressing it into the sides firmly and smoothly. Line the tin with half of the slices of Parma ham, allowing the ends of the slices to hang over the sides.

Arrange a layer of about 1/3 of the sliced potatoes in the base of the tin, then spoon over about half of the melted butter, a layer of half the mushrooms and cover with Parma ham. Sprinkle with half the chives and seasoning. Add another layer of potatoes, spoon over more melted butter, the rest of the mushrooms and cover with a layer of Parma ham. Sprinkle with chives and seasoning. Add the remaining potatoes and melted butter and finish with a layer of ham. Fold over the hanging pieces of ham from the base of the terrine. Cover the whole terrine with clingfilm and press down lightly to firm.

Place a flat plate in top of the terrine and weigh down with a large can or something similar. Chill overnight in the fridge.

Before serving, mix together all the ingredients for the dressing.

Demould the terrine onto a board, peel off the clingfilm and cut into 6 - 8 even slices. Place each serving on a plate and spoon around the dressing.

Serve lightly chilled.

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Spiced Festive Ham

Christmas isn't Christmas without a festive ham for our family.

We'll even do without a turkey in favour of a ham.

Try this festive way of preparing it,

It's deliciously different.

Although you could use any white wine or cider here,

I rather like the flavour that "Pinot Grigio" gives to the meat.

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Ingredients:
2.5 kg boneless gammon or ham
1 bottle of Pinot Grigio, Italian white wine.
2.5L water
1 large onion, halved
2 cloves of garlic
1 head of fennel, halved
2-3 star anise
15ml coriander seed
15ml fennel seed
15ml mixed peppercorns
2-3 clementines, halved through the middle
so the segments are cut in half and
each half studded with a whole clove.

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For the Glaze:
12-16 whole cloves
60ml smooth orange marmalade
2ml cinnamon
2ml smoked paprika
5ml white wine vinegar

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Method:
Place the gammon in a large saucepan.
Add all the ingredients for the ham to the pan, adding some more water if the ham isn't covered.Bring to the boil, before reducing the heat to a simmer and partially covering the pan. Cook for about two and a half to three hours - approximately one hour a kilo simmering time, plus an extra 15 minutes.
When you are ready to glaze the ham, preheat the oven to 230C.
Remove the ham from the liquid and sit the ham on a board. Strip off the rind, and a little of the fat layer if it's very thick, and cut a diamond pattern into the remaining fat with a sharp knife in lines of about 2cm apart.
Stud the cloves into each diamond. Put the marmalade, cinnamon, paprika and white wine vinegar into a saucepan and stir over high heat, bringing it to the boil. Let the pan bubble away so that the glaze reduces to a syrup-like consistency.
Place a layer of foil over a roasting tray big enough to hold the ham. Place the ham on top of the foil. (This saves on washing up later as the foil can be discarded and there is little, if any, sticky residue to clean up.)
Pour the glaze over the clove-studded ham and then transfer it to the oven. Cook for about 15 minutes, or until the glazed fat is burnished.
Allow the meat to rest in a warm place for at least 15 minutes before carving it.