A Sort of Surprise Birthday Meal (Great Gammon Recipe)

I organised a semi-surprise Birthday dinner party for my Mother at the weekend. And, not to blow my own trumpet, it went pretty well. It's always more of an ordeal to try and impress those closest to you I think.
On the menu:

Potted Prawns (served in an array of shells),  Mackerel and Fennel Pate

with homemade Breadsticks

Gammon baked in Cider with Onion and Apple sauce,

with Mash, slow roast Jerusalem Artichokes

 and Spring greens

Seville Orange, gold splattered Meringue Pie

I made the bread dough the night before, when I also prepared the potted prawns. The prawns are really so easy to do. I ended up buying ready cooked in shell from waitrose (had run out of raw), but they worked really well. Make sure you buy prawns in their shells, it works out a lot cheaper, it just takes a bit of time.

I melted butter, and mixed in cayenne pepper and nutmeg, then popped in the peeled prawns. Then divided the mix into a selection of shells from my childhood collection. (Ramekins would obviously do the job). And they are done!

Now, it was the gammon that saved the evening from being stressful, and allowed me to leave the kitchen. This forgiving recipe really allows you to relax and has never failed to give me fantastic results. Also, it works out very cheaply per head, I bought a good quality gammon for £18- NOT BAD.

To serve 12 (ish), takes about 3 1/2 hours...or as long as you need

1 3kg Gammon (unsmoked)

2 Bramley Apples

3 White Onions

1 Bulb of Garlic (optional)

1 tbs French Mustard

500ml chicken stock

500ml good medium/dry cider

Firstly, if your gammon is salted soak it, most aren't thought. Pre-heat your oven to 170 degrees celsius. Next, pop the meat into a roasting dish/tin that has high sides. Cut the apples in half (don't peel), skin the onions and cut them in half also, if using the garlic cut the whole bulb in half. Arrange all of these in the tray around the gammon.

In a large bowl or jug, mix the hot stock (should be hot to get the gammon cooking immediately), the cider and the mustard. Pour the mixture all over the gammon, season with pepper (no salt) and in the oven it goes!

Baste every 30mins, and cook for roughly 3 hours, no harm will be done if it's 4. The beautiful liquid will keep the meat nice and moist.

Take the meat out of the pan and let it rest on a hot carving plate for about 20 minutes covered in foil. While it's resting, spoon the fat off the sauce in the pan, which should have thickened to a perfect pouring consistency. Keep on the heat on a hob, when ready to serve the meat strain into a warmed jug.

Enjoy- works really well with mash and cabbage- but go to town on veg. The leftover meat, if there is any, is fantastic! And I use my leftover mash for fish cakes- for which I will post a recipe soon.