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Put a spring in your step the fruity way
Spring is almost sprung so why not brush aside the winter blues with a healthy fresh fruit salad, says Clare Latimer
WITH spring peeping from behind those snow-laden clouds I have decided to go a bit healthy this week. As I look out onto my garden the mimosa is giving a yellow glow, the camellias have burst forth and the trees are desperately trying to push their buds forward to break into a new season.
I am going to make a start on spring and eat more healthy foods and plenty of it but of course still ending the day with a square or two of that wonderful dark chocolate that is at most supermarket checkouts. It is suppose to be good for the heart and it is definitely good for the soul.
Home-cooked gammon
This is a very traditional English dish. It is best cooked firstly by simmering to keep the meat moist and it gives it a good apple and herb flavour and then the roasting seals in the flavours and gives it a wonderful sticky coating.
Serves 6-8
Ingredients
A 1.4 kg unsmoked gammon joint.
One small onion, peeled and chopped.
Three bay leaves.
600ml of apple juice or cider.
Twenty whole cloves.
One tablespoon of marmalade.
Two tablespoons of dark brown sugar.
Method
Put the gammon into a saucepan, cover with water, bring to the boil, then drain. Return the meat to the saucepan, add the onion, bay leaves, apple juice or cider and half the cloves, plus water to cover the meat, if not covered. Cover with a lid, bring to the boil, then simmer for 45 minutes. Leave to cool in the liquid until ready to roast.
Preheat the oven 200C 400F or Gas 6. Remove the gammon from the pan, drain, then using a sharp knife strip away the rind, leaving the layer of white fat. Score the fat in a criss-cross fashion, then spread with the marmalade, pat on the sugar and, finally, spear the cloves evenly over the roast. Place in a roasting tin in the oven and cook for 35 minutes or until the skin has a caramel
texture.
Remove, leave to cool slightly then carve and serve.
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