Roast ham from the British Butchers

It's pretty difficult to get a piece of raw ham in North America, most being ready cooked and smoked, like the bacon. A trip to the 'British Butcher' in North Vancouver, a local artisan, yields results. He usually has a vast piece in the back and I always ask if it's possible for him to cut a piece off for me. He always obliges and I get a small piece weighing around 2 pounds which feeds 2 of us for several meals. This time, the pink meat came complete with skin, providing the exciting possibility of crackling, although I had to take this off and place it under the grill to crisp as the roasting heat and time just didn't give a hot enough blast to dry it out enough to make it extra crispy. So, to cook the gammon, I slashed the skin with Neil's Stanley knife, rubbed lots of salt into it and then roasted it for 1hour 45 minutes at 350oF.

I seem to be following a pattern when I cook which is becoming all too apparent to me now through writing this blog. Meat is accompanied by fried vegetables and a sauce. Maybe it's the lack of carbs such as a roast potato or a nice potato bake or some such other potato-y goodness that is forcing me to go the way of vegetable nirvana. Whatever the reason, slicing vegetables into thin shreds, (the more colourful the better) and frying them together with oil, butter and some other seasoning seems to be my thing. So, without exception I fried together about 1 cup finely shredded Savoy cabbage with 1/2 cup each of finely shredded beet leaves and Swiss chard leaves. I first removed the colourful stems from the Swiss chard and boiled them in a little water in the microwave for a few minutes, then I added everything to a frying pan with 1 tbsp butter and a little oil and stir-fried everything until soft and wilted.

For the dressing for this vegetable fry, I tried something different. I made a vinaigrette of sorts with 1 tbsp white wine vinegar, 1 tsp Dijon mustard and 1/4 tsp sugar. I poured this over the veg near the end of cooking and then seasoned with a little salt and black pepper. Oh, and I added 1/2 a Granny Smith apple, seeded and peeled as well, (this being pig and all).

  

There was some crackling to go on top and I made a sauce from the roasting juices by adding 1/4 cup Vermouth, 2 tsp mustard, 1/4 cup water and 2 tbsp sour cream, all heated together on gentle heat for about 10 minutes.

Hot ham sandwiches

 Meal no.2 came about fairly instinctively what with the roast ham sitting happily in the fridge awaiting some attention. So, out came a low carb bread roll from the freezer, defrosted in the microwave for 1 minute, spread generously with mustard and topped with some shredded ham warmed in the microwave with a little left over sauce. For some reason, probably to make the picture look good, I added a few sprigs of mint, but it added just the right amount of fresh and herbal taste for the sharp, sweet mustard and sweet, juicy ham. Yum!

This low carb bread is really quite good.

Spaghetti A'La Carbonara

I used to feel slightly smug that I never really understood the intense love affair many people have with Italian food. I felt that I was missing something or perhaps smug because I wasn't a sheep and following the crowd. It's strange how you can change one small detail in a recipe you have been making for a while and suddenly understand what the fuss is all about. My squeamishness for runny egg yolks has always dissuaded me from making Spaghetti Carbonara in the traditional, authentic way. I would literally scramble the eggs creating a Carbonara any Italian aficionado would cringe at in disgust. Writing this blog has changed me in so far that I will now try many more things to increase my understanding of cooking and appreciation of foods I may not have tried before. So tonight, I left the eggs runny, just stirring them into the pasta for a brief time. The Parmesan cheese melted into the eggs creating a rich, creamy sauce rather than the usual lumpy affair I am used to. So, even though I am an advocate of experimentation and not being a slave to hard and fast recipes, tonight I learned the reason why a recipe is as it should be and enjoyed the best Carbonara I have ever had.

Recipe

1/2 cup leftover cooked ham or bacon or Proscuitto or Pancetta

1 tbsp oil

1 clove garlic, peeled and cut in half

2 eggs

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

2 tbsp minced fresh parsley

freshly ground black pepper

spaghetti

• Bring a large saucepan of salted water to the boil, reduce heat and add the spaghetti.

• Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the garlic for a few minutes just to perfume the oil. Remove the garlic and discard.

• Add your bacon, ham or Proscuitto etc. and either fry until crispy or warm through (if using cooked ham). Remove from the heat.

• Beat the eggs together and add 1/2 the Parmesan, half the parsley and some black pepper.

• When the spaghetti is cooked, drain and add to the pan with the bacon etc.

• With the heat on low-medium, pour the egg mixture over the bacon and spaghetti and quickly start stirring.

• Remove from the heat while the egg is still liquid and add the rest of the Parmesan and stir well.

• Garnish with the remaining parsley and serve.