Ham with lentils and mustard sauce

Prep time: 30 minutes Cook time: 1 hour 50 minutes

Serves 2-3

INGREDIENTS For the ham

– 750g unsmoked

gammon

– 1 celery stick (plus leaves if your celery has them), halved

– 1 onion, quartered

– 1 large carrot, halved

along its length

– a handful of parsley

stalks

– 8 black peppercorns – 2 cloves

For the lentils

– 1 tbsp olive oil

– ½ small onion, very

finely chopped

– ½ celery stick, diced

– 1 small carrot, diced – 135g puy lentils

– 1 bay leaf

– 250ml light chicken

stock or water

– a squeeze of lemon

juice, added to taste – 1-2 tbsp extra-virgin

olive oil

– ½ tbsp chopped parsley

For the sauce

– 15g unsalted butter – 2 shallots, finely

chopped

– 2 tbsp white-wine

vinegar – 125ml dry white wine – 200ml double cream – a squeeze of lemon

juice, added to taste – 2½ tbsp Dijon mustard

METHOD

Wash the gammon.

Fill a saucepan, big enough to hold the gammon, with water. Add all the vegetables along with the parsley, peppercorns and cloves, and bring the water to the boil. Add the gammon (it should be submerged) and turn the heat down. The cooking time is 20 minutes per 450g, plus an extra 15-20 minutes, so I cook a 750g gammon for 50 minutes. Cover the pan and let it simmer until it’s tender. Take the pan off the heat and leave the ham in the cooking liquor – covered – for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, cook the lentils and sauce. Heat the olive oil in a saucepan for the lentils, and sauté the onion, celery and carrot until they’re soft. Add the lentils and stir them round in the juices, then add the bay leaf and the water or stock. Bring up to the boil then turn the heat down and allow to cook gently until the lentils are tender but with a little bite in the centre of each one, 15-20 minutes. The lentils should have absorbed all the water by this stage. If there’s too much, strain them and keep the excess to put into a soup. Stir in the lemon juice, extra-virgin olive oil and parsley.

Cover and keep warm. Melt the butter for the mustard sauce in a pan and gently sauté the shallots until soft. Add the vinegar, whack up the heat and reduce to practically nothing. Add the wine and boil to reduce by half, then add the cream, lemon, salt and pepper, and heat through. If the mixture becomes too thick (the lemon juice will thicken the cream), just let it down with a little water.

Take the pan off the heat and whisk in the mustard. Cover the sauce and set it aside.

Take the ham out of the stock – reheat it gently if you need to – and remove the skin. Cut the ham into slices and serve with the lentils and sauce. You don’t need potatoes with this, but bread would be good, as would savoy cabbage.