There's a joint of ham on the hob, it's been puttering away for an hour or more in my deepest pot, filling the kitchen with a smell that says welcome home. It's an old-fashioned smell – one of seasoned stock, cloves and bay. Timeless.
I buy a joint of meat for roasting or boiling with more than one meal in mind. Yes, there's the initial dinner with all its trimmings and splendid bonhomie, but it's the meals I make with the leftovers that interest me just as much. Last week I came home with a joint of ham for boiling. It makes a nice change from the usual Sunday roast. I had the classic ham and parsley sauce in mind, although decided to serve it with pears (which I cooked with onions and a spoon of honey) instead – but I had already earmarked the leftovers for a stuffing. The next day, shreds of the cold ham found their way into a filling with a soft and creamy cheese to turn a handful of baked shallots into a winter dinner. A frugal feast if ever there was one.
I find, occasionally, that ham can be a little salty when it is boiled, so I have taken to bringing the joint of meat to the boil first in deep water then pouring that water away and refilling the pot with cold water or stock (or cider, or perry – the sparkling version made with pears). It is a little bit of bother, but better than risking a salty ham. The choice is yours.
The cooking liquid, enriched with onions spiked with cloves and a few bay leaves, has done its work and can be chucked out (it's inclined to be salty), but I do like to spoon a little of it, in lieu of gravy, over the slices of moist, pink meat as I serve them. Big, fat, floury potatoes, boiled or steamed to a point just short of crumbling, are my favourite accompaniment, but sometimes a pile of mash, flecked through with masses of chopped parsley and a grating of nutmeg is more suitable.
It need not be stuffed onions that get the tasty scraps. Ham can end its days in a risotto with fried sage, a tortilla with new potatoes and chopped tarragon or fennel, or, of course my favourite of all: a doorstep-style ham sandwich, perhaps with watercress or lamb's lettuce and – please – a thick layer of mayonnaise into which you have stirred a squeeze of wasabi paste or tarragon mustard. A fitting end for a fine piece of meat.
Ham with perry and pears
I buy my ham joints boned, ready rolled and tied. It saves a lot of butchery and battling with kitchen string. I prefer an unsmoked ham for this, but both can be good. Try to find ripe pears. Apples are a possibility, too.
Serves 6
ham joint 1.75kg, boned and rolled
shallot 1, large or a medium onion
cloves 4
perry or cider 500ml
black peppercorns 8
bay leaves 3
For the pears:
pears 3, ripe
banana shallots 3
lemon juice of 1
butter 100g
runny honey 2 tbsp
Put the ham in a very large saucepan. Fill with water and bring to the boil. Discard the water. Peel the shallot and spike it with the cloves, then add it to the pan. Pour over the perry or cider and add the peppercorns and bay leaves. Bring the liquid to the boil, then lower the heat, so that the liquid simmers very gently.
Partially cover the ham with a lid. Leave the ham to simmer for a couple of hours, scooping off and discarding any froth as it comes to the surface.
When the ham is cooked, it can be left in the cooking liquor until you are ready to carve.
Peel the pears, rubbing them with lemon juice as you go, to stop them browning. Peel the shallots and cut them in half from root to tip. Warm the butter in a large, heavy-based frying pan and add the pears and shallots, cut-side down, and leave to cook over a moderate to low heat till tender. Turn the fruit and shallots from time to time, and keep the heat steady, so they colour nicely and become fully tender, but do not brown too much. Pour the honey and lemon juice into the pan, continue cooking briefly then serve.
Remove the ham from the cooking liquid and carve thinly, serving it with the pears and shallots.
Stuffied shallots with ham and Tunworth
I use the delightful British Tunworth cheese for this, but the recipe is good with other soft cheeses, too, such as Camembert or Taleggio. Use the largest banana shallots you can find. Failing that, medium-sized onions will do.
Serves 3
banana shallots 6, large
thyme 6 sprigs
ham 250g, cooked
Tunworth cheese or half a Camembert
Set the oven at 180C/gas mark 4. Put the shallots in a roasting tin and bake for about an hour until the flesh inside the skins is soft and sweet.
Remove the shallots from the oven and split the skin of each one almost from root to tip, but without cutting the shallot in half.
With a teaspoon, scoop out two or three of the innermost layers of the shallots and chop them finely. Put the chopped shallots in a bowl. Tear or chop the ham into small pieces then add to the chopped shallots. Slice the cheese into thin pieces then mix with the shallots and ham, seasoning lightly as you go with black pepper.
Stuff the ham mixture into the hollows in the shallots, then return them to the oven for 15 minutes or until the cheese has started to melt. If you have any mixture left over add it to the roasting tin and serve it alongside the onions.
Email Nigel at nigel.slater@observer.co.uk. Follow Nigel on Twitter @NigelSlater