3. Cloves - Baked Ham

As the weather gets bitterly cold, comfort food comes to the front of my mind. It seems like every conversation I have at the moment is to do with casseroles, roast dinners, mashed potato and custard. During one such conversation with a fellow food lover there was a mention of baked ham, cauliflower cheese and a jacket potato. That was it. That was all I could think about for the next few days. I became obsessed.

After several hours of research I decided that the simplest recipes, using honey and mustard, were the best to try out (although I would have loved to have looked to Fanny Cradock for inspiration and used some pineapple rings - maybe next time).

Using this size gammon gave four very generous portions of ham for dinner and made a few delicious ham and mustard/pickle sandwiches.

Ingredients

Unsmoked gammon joint approx 1.4kg (make sure it has a good thick layer of fat)
500ml stout

2 onions
2 carrots
2 bay leaves
A few peppercorns
Approx 25 cloves
3 tsp mustard (I used a good quality dijon mustard but I'm sure a stronger English mustard would work too)
3 tsp honey

Method

Place the gammon joint in a large pan and pour in the stout and enough water to cover. Chop the onions into quarters and the carrots into chunks and add these to the pan along with the bay leaves, peppercorns and 5 cloves. Bring to the boil, lower the heat and gently simmer for 40 minutes. Allow the gammon to cool in its cooking liquor.

Preheat the oven to 220C/200C fan/gas mark 7.

When the gammon is cool enough to handle place in a roasting tin lined with foil. Gently slice off the skin leaving as much of the layer of fat as possible. With a sharp knife score the fat into a diamond pattern making sure you don't slice all the way down to the meat. Stud the centre of each diamond with the remaining cloves.

In a small bowl mix together the honey and the mustard. Brush the glaze over the layer of fat. Place in the centre of the oven for 20 minutes or until the glaze turns a caramelised golden brown and the meat is cooked all the way through. Keep an eye on the gammon as the glaze might brown quickly but the meat might not be thoroughly cooked. If this happens cover with a piece of foil for the remaining cooking time.

The result was a succulent and spicy hunk of meat with a layer of incredibly flavoursome fat. Boiling the gammon in the stout broth was definitely a success as the meat took on its warm flavours. It worked incredibly well with the longed for cauliflower cheese but it was great for leftovers too - ham, egg and chips one evening and the rest was used for crusty bread sandwiches. This would also be a great addition to the Christmas table.

2. Cloves - Pumpkin Pie

It's that time of year when pumpkins and squashes are in abundance so what better way to use them than in a sweet and spicy pumpkin pie (well, butternut squash pie to be precise). This was unknown territory for me and after a couple of hours of researching various recipes I was very pleased to see The Guardian's article on the perfect pumpkin pie. For this recipe I have combined little bits of various recipes and, despite a bit of a soggy bottom, I was really pleased with the results.

Ingredients

For the pastry

500g plain flour
100g icing sugar
250g cold butter, cut into cubes
Zest of 1 lemon
2 large free range eggs
A splash of milk

For the filling

1 butternut squash
145g maple syrup
1tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp all spice
2 large free range eggs
150ml evaporated milk

Method

Start by preparing the butternut squash. To make it easier to cut up, I put the butternut squash in a large pan with about 10cm of water. Bring to the boil, cover with a lid and cook for approximately 5 minutes or until you can pierce the skin with ease with a fork. Remove from the heat, drain and allow to cool.

Next, prepare the pastry. This recipe made twice the amount I needed for the pie so I put the other half in the freezer for another time. The key here is to keep everything (including your hands) cold. Take a large bowl and sift the flour and sugar into it. Using your fingers, rub in the cubes of butter until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Don't work the mixture too much as the warmth of your hands will warm up the butter. A Jamie Oliver tip is to run your hands under the cold tap for a few moments if you feel they're too warm.

Mix in the lemon zest and then add the eggs and milk. Work it together with your hands until the dough forms a ball. Don't work the dough too much or you'll end up with a chewy pastry rather than one that is crumbly, short and melt in the mouth. Flour it lightly, pat slightly and place in a polythene bag/wrap in clingfilm and chill in the fridge for at least an hour.


Now back to the squash. Once it has cooled you need to peel, slice in half, remove the seeds and cut into equal sized chunks. Place in a steamer over a few centimetres of water and steam until tender.

Once tender place the chunks into a plastic jug/other suitable container and use a hand blender to make a puree. Place the puree in a fine sieve or in a piece of muslin and leave to drain over a bowl for at least an hour, longer if you have the time.

Next job is to line a 20cm pie dish with the pastry. On a lightly floured surface roll out the pastry to the thickness of a £1 coin. Remember to only use half of the dough if you have followed the recipe above. Lift into the dish, push to the edges and run the rolling pin over the top of the dish to remove any excess pastry hanging over the sides. Chill again for 30 minutes. While that's chilling, preheat the oven to 200C/180C fan oven/gas mark 6.

Prick the base all over with a fork and line the pastry case with baking parchment. Weigh this down with baking beans/rice/lentils and bake in the oven for 15 minutes. Remove the paper and the beans and bake for a further 5 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown. Remove from the oven and turn the oven down to 180C/160C fan oven/gas mark 3.

By this stage the squash puree should have been draining for about an hour. Mix the puree with the syrup and spices. Beat in the eggs followed by the evaporated milk to give a thick and creamy consistency. Pour into the pastry case and bake in the oven for about 40 minutes checking after the first 25 minutes or so to make sure it retains a slight wobble.

Remove from the oven and once cooled slightly remove from the dish and place on a wire rack to cool completely.

The result was a spicy eggy custard sitting atop a buttery pastry. I don't think the photo does it justice. The one disappointing thing about pumpkin pie is the loss of the beautiful bright orange colour of the pumpkin/squash but, I would say, it's worth it.

Halloween Cupcakes

I seem to do a lot of baking outside of my "1 ingredient, 5 recipes" project so I thought I'd start posting those too.

These are very simple but very delicious vanilla cupcakes that Joe and I decorated for the trick or treaters......that never came. Was initially disappointed but then realised it meant they had to go somewhere - in my mouth.

Makes 24 cupcakes

Ingredients

For the cakes

350g unsalted butter, softened
350g golden caster sugar
6 large free range eggs
350g self raising flour, sifted
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
2 tsp vanilla extract

For the decoration

150g unsalted butter, softened
800g icing sugar, sifted
A splash or two of milk
Food colouring (red, blue, yellow) (optional)
Writing icing (in various colours) (optional)
Chocolate buttons

Method

Start by preheating the oven to 190C (170C for fan ovens)/gas mark 5. Line two 12-hole muffin pans with paper cases.

Cream together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, incorporating each egg fully before adding the next one. As you do this, if the mixture looks like it might be curdling, add a level tablespoon of the flour.

Next mix in the flour, a couple of tablespoons at a time. This can all be done with an electric whisk. Once all the flour has been mixed through, add the vanilla and the lemon zest. Mix again.

Spoon the mixture equally between the paper cases and bake for 15-20 minutes until they are pale golden, risen and springy. Leave to cool in the tins for a few minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Once completely cool you can move onto the artistic bit. I decided on 3 colours - white (for the eye balls), purple and orange. Beat the butter until light fluffy and then gradually beat in the sifted icing sugar. I found adding a splash of milk once you've added half the sugar and the another splash at the end gave the perfect spreading consistency.

For the eyeballs, I covered the tops of 8 cakes with the plain butter cream, added red "veins" with red writing icing and then plonked a caramel-filled chocolate button on top.

I then divided the remaining frosting into 2 bowls. I added red and yellow food colouring to one bowl to get bright pumpkin orange (took a bit of perseverance to get the right shade). I covered 8 cupcakes with this frosting which made the perfect base for Jack-o'-lantern themed cakes.

The last lot of frosting was mixed with red and blue food colouring to get a gothic and spooky purple. The black writing icing looked great against this and Joe produced a marvellous scary spider creation!

These are great little cupcakes that turned out really moist and rich. Really versatile too and can be used with different flavoured frostings and can be made as fancy or as plain as you like. All in all, a great success and I will be enrolling Joe a lot more to put the finishing touches to my baking projects!