So you may have seen my earlier post for Baked Ham with Flagolet Beans and Celeriac Mash … Well the combination worked so well I decided on a variation…
There are so many of my favourite earthy vegetables around at the moment that I decided to try out another ham stew but this time with a fresher more vibrant set of flavours.
I was also desperate to try out a celeriac gratin, as the traditional potato version is as close to perfection as a recipe can get and, in my eyes, celeriac is as close to perfection as a vegetable can get… I decided I couldn’t go wrong.
We also had some red peppers in the fridge that were starting to get a little wrinkly (I kept putting off stuffing them with left over butternut risotto) but despite wrinkles usually being the compost calling card for most vegetables peppers can actually improve with a little age, so we roasted them with olive oil until their skins were blackened and stored them in a jar in the fridge to add to soups or stews.. Delicious.
This stew wasn’t as successful as the first (I really missed the beans and the silky creaminess they add to the sauce) but the addition of pumpkin really worked. You also really need the chorizo here (optional in the earlier recipe) as the whole thing has a peppery, firey, smoky thing going on which is ever so different to the earlier version.
Remember to pre-soak your ham overnight and then bring it up to the boil in clean water before starting.
Ham with Pumpkin, Carrot and Roasted Peppers and a Celeriac Gratin
1.2 kg unsmoked gammon
1 onion, diced
olive oil
4 cloves of garlic, whole
1tsb smoked paprika
4 carrots, sliced into chunks
1 very small pumpkin peeled, de-seeded and cut into chunks
2-4 chorizo sausages sliced into chunks (the uncooked kind, not the pre-cooked slicing kind)
2 red bell peppers roasted in olive oil, de-skinned and sliced
2 tins tomatoes
Serves 6
Remove the skin from the ham and discard it
Heat some olive oil in a large pan on a medium heat and put the ham in fat-side down and brown it lightly.
Now remove it from the pan and add your chopped onions, turn the heat down and sweat them with the lid on for around 5-10 minutes until soft
When the onions are soft, add the carrot, paprika, pumpkin and chorizo and sautee lightly for another 10 minutes
Make a gap in the vegetables to make room for the ham.
Put the ham in the pan so the fatty side is just poking out at the top and pour in the tomatoes around it.
Put it into the oven for around 45 minutes with the lid on, then another 35 with it off. (If you are making the gratin you’ll need to put this in when you have about 45-50 mins cooking time left)
Celeriac Gratin
2 medium potatoes peeled and sliced very thinly (aim for a 1p thickness)
1/2 a celeriac sliced to the same thickness
2 cloves of garlic also sliced thinly
1/2 tsp dried chilli flakes
A little butter
300ml double cream
Salt and Pepper
Parmesan
Serves 6 (you really don’t need a large portion, it’s pretty rich)
Butter an ovenproof dish around 20cm x 20cm (I used the circular one in the top picture)
Layer the potatoes, garlic, celeriac and chilli flakes until you have filled your dish or run out of ingredients
Now pour over the cream (you want it to be just underneath the top layer, you don’t want it boiling and bubling up over the edges when it’s in the oven),
Now grate over some parmesan and put in the oven with the stew for 45-50minutes or until the vegetables are soft and the top brown and bubbling
Serve the ham cut into slices with the gratin and stew on the side. I served the whole lot with some fresh spinach wilted in butter with a generous grating of nutmeg.
annascafe 