Baked Sweet-Glazed Ham and Fruity Cous-Cous

This is a really tasty supper which requires little effort and is quick to prepare, but it looks so jolly with the fruit-studded cous-cous! The following ingredients are really only suggestions, as this dish is open to creative experimenting depending on your family's favourite tastes.

Gammon joint (750g serves approx 3 people)

Mango chutney

Mustard (whole-grain or English)

1 cup cous-cous

Chicken stock (made with stock cube)

2 spring onions

Tin chick peas

2 fresh peaches or a ripe mango

A big handful of fresh parsley or coriander

(Chilli oil)

Salt and pepper

Cook the gammon joint on a baking tray covered in foil according to the packet instructions, but I often find it needs slightly less time than recommended, so keep an eye on it. About 20 minutes before the end of the cooking time, remove the foil and brush with a paste made from the mustard and mango chutney. This should caremelise during cooking to a sweet glaze, but it does catch easily so keep checking it! Remove from oven and set aside for 10 miutes or so.

Meanwhile, put the cous-cous in a bowl with slightly less than twice the amount of chicken stock. I find it helps to measure the cous-cous and stock with a cup so your measurements are equivalent. Put a plate on top of the bowl and leave until all the stock has been absorbed.

Chop the spring onions finely, and whatever fresh herbs you want to use - I suggest parsley and/or coriander - and prepare the fruit. Peaches and mangoes go very well with this dish, but pineapple, apricots or even apples work just as well. Depending on how fussy your children are, you might want to peel the fruit as well as dicing it. Don't be scared to use tinned varieties if you don't have anything suitable in the fruit bowl!

The chick peas are easy to prepare. Empty the contents of the tin into a seive and rinse, and then shake about vigourously and the thin skins will come off and you can pick them out. This is not strictly necessary, but some people don't like the texture. If you haven't got chick peas, I have successfully used cannellini, kidney or aduki beans at various times.

Fluff the cous-cous with a fork to separate grains and add a smidge of butter or olive oil. A drizzle of chilli oil adds a little zing if your children are adventurous... Then add the onion, chick peas and peaches and stir well to mix, adding lots of salt and pepper.

Slice the ham and serve with the cous-cous. Mango chutney makes an excellent accompaniment!

Bon appetit!

Cottage or Shepherd's Pie

This has to be the ultimate comfort food. Everyone loves their mother's Shepherd's Pie - the gastronomic equivalent of a sticking plaster! See my post Domestic Tensions, Good Intentions & Shepherd's Pie

I don't think it is entirely helpful to give specific quantities here, as like most of my cooking, the emphasis is on what there is left in the fridge and how many hungry people are clamouring for their supper. I try to allow about 500g of meat per 4 adult servings, but this is absolutely not cast in stone! So these measurements are a guide and I positively encourage you to tweak them to your own taste.

500g minced lamb/beef
1 large onion, finely diced
2 sticks celery, finely diced
Dried herbs (a selection of your favourites, perhaps bay leaves, sage, thyme, rosemary)
Handful plain flour
Chicken, beef or lamb stock
Good slug of red or white wine
2 0r 3 carrots, peeled & diced
Redcurrant jelly

Start by sauteeing the finely diced onion and celery in a frying pan, in a little oil on a medium heat for about five minutes or so, or until they are soft and almost transculent. Scoop them out of the pan and set aside in a casserole dish or large saucepan.
Then add a little more oil and the mince to the frying pan - you might have to do this in batches. Brown the mince and break it up with a wooden spatula and then drain it through a seive to remove the excess fat. (If you do this over a bowl, you can chuck the fat away into the dustbin instead of pouring it down the sink where it clog up the drains and does all sorts of environmental damage.)
Add it to the saucepan and put it on a medium heat.

Then add your carrots, and next I chuck in a handful of flour and maybe a big pinch of dried herbs and a bay leaf or two. Stir the flour through the meat and onions and don't panic because it looks horrible!

Then take your stock (if there isn't any chicken stock in the fridge made up from the bones of the Sunday roast, then I'll happily use a stock cube or two - I think chicken stock works nicely with beef or lamb mince, but beef stock cubes tend to taste and smell more artificial somehow, so use them sparingly and probably only with beef mince as they don't sit so comfortably with lamb!) and add it slowly stirring all the time. This is the time to add a slug of wine if you would like to, I don't think it matters whether it is red or white.
Add about a desertspoon of redcurrant jelly and season with salt and pepper.
Then clap on the lid, and leave to simmer gently, stirring occasionally, while you do the potatoes. If the consistency is too liquid, take the lid off to let it reduce down a little and thicken. If it is too thick, add a little more wine or stock. You don't want it too runny, or the mashed potato topping will sink! (This has become known as 'Shepherd's Soup' in our house!)

I'm not going to attempt to give you exact quantities for your mashed potato either - it depends on how much mince mixture you have made, how big your serving dish is, and how thick your family like their topping, it's a very personal thing! I don't think you can make too much, so err on the side of caution, because if you don't use it all the leftover mash can go into soups, fish or bacon cakes, bubble and squeak - the possibilities are endless. So get peeling. Boil the potatoes gently until you can prod them with a fork easily. Don't let them disintegrate and fall apart because they make horrible watery mash. Mash with butter and milk until lump-free and creamy.

Now back to our mince mixture. Taste it and add more seasoning if necessary, and then spoon into an ovenproof serving dish. Cover with the potato topping. (If you work around the outside first, using a fork to push the potato firmly up against the edge of the dish, it ensures there are no gaps for the gravy to bubble up through. Also, use the fork to create ridges across the top of the potato topping, which encourages it to brown.)
Plonk into a pre-heated hot oven until the meat mixture is bubbling and the topping is a glorious golden brown.

Variations on a theme

All of these can be useful additions to your mince mixture -
mushrooms
sultanas
bacon
lentils
baked beans
black pudding
apple sauce or ketchup (instead of redcurrant jelly)

And to the potato topping, try adding -
sweet potato
butternut squash
pumpkin
cheese (particularly grated cheddar mixed into the mash or scattered on top, but also try brie and stilton)
cream
mustard
parsley
breadcrumbs or crushed crisps (sprinkled on top)
leeks