Brussle and Cauliflower Gratin with roast Gammon

I was invited to my lovely friend Gemma'a house for a Sunday cooking and eating lot's day because It's something were very good at. We went to the shops bought our gammon and decided what to have with it, I always have cauliflower cheese with it because its a marriage made in heaven and decided to be a little different and make a creamy cheesy gratin with brussle sprouts and cauliflower and boy it was good.

Brussle sprouts
Cauliflower
Flour
Butter
Double cream
Mature cheeder Cheese
Parmesan
Bread crumbs
Pepper


I par boiled my veg before putting in a baking dish


Next I made a roux and used cream instead of milk and stirred a mound of grated cheese into it and poured it over the veg. And yes cream is indulgent but what are Sundays for if there not for indulgence and treating yourself before going back to work Monday morning I ask you!


I whizzed up some stale bread for part of the topping


Then I covered the gratin with Cheddar, Parmesan and breadcrumbs and put it in the over for around 20 mins.


The delicious gratin in all it's glory


I boiled my gammon in water for around 20 mins before covering in foil and roasting in the over for around half an hour


Had to make some goose fat roast potatoes, it's Sunday!


I also made a cider gravy using some of the water I boiled the gammon in and the veg water, it was a truly delicious Sunday dinner and bit of a change to the normal Sunday roast I would cook.
If you were going to have the gratin with chicken or lamb I think adding some pancetta or bacon and thyme would be nice addition to. Happy Sundays everyone.

Random Recipies #6 Nigella Lawson Macaroni Cheese De Luxe with Honey Roast Gammon

I even put the book on a festive red blanket!

This will be the first time I participate in Dom's Random Recipe Challenge and I'm really happy to be taking part and it's about bloody time I did so here it is.
I have a huge collection of cookbooks and I love them all, I'm one of those people that reads cookery books in bed and I bloody love it I do!
It was really hard to choose due to my undeniable love for each and every one of my precious books, It could have been 'The Prawn Cocktail Years' by Simon Hopkinson and Lindsey Bareham who both also wrote and contributed to 'Roast Chicken and Other Stories' which is another all time favourite and regarded as one of the best cook books ever written. I adore all Nigel Slater books especially 'Good Food' that I am pretty sure I have cooked every dish from! Or what about a recipe from Sam and Sam Clarke from 'Moro' with their rustic bowls of beautiful food......
Well I came to my decision and I know it's July but the weather has hardly been that fabulous and I'd be lying if I didn't admit that Nigella Lawson's book 'Nigella Christmas' was not one of my all time favourite books and the fact I have a year round obsession with Christmas may also have something to do with my choice, I would have been fully prepared to do roast goose with all the trimmings, no joke.
I adore the photography in Nigella's book, it's just so beautiful and I love the way she writes a little story and her own thoughts on each and every recipe which is why it's exactly the kind of cook book I will snuggle up in bed with.
I got my boyfriend to flick through the pages and I closed my eyes and shouted when to stop and it turned out to be 'Macaroni Cheese De Luxe', now I'm not gonna lie I was a teeny bit disappointed because Ive made macaroni cheese a thousand times before and was hoping for something new and exciting but I have never made one using evaporated milk so that was a little bit exciting, every cloud and all that.
I will admit that I did not stick to the recipe exactly as I forgot the Dijon mustard and I almost halved the quantities because it felt slightly excessive to use three cans of evaporated milk so I just used one and omitted the mustard. Here is Nigella's full recipe that unless your cooking for a small army you may want to scale down.

Nigell Lawson's Macaroni Cheese De Luxe
175g Soft butter, plus more for greasing
150g plain flour
2 teaspoons of Dijon mustard
3 cans evaporated milk 500g in total
1.5 litres of semi-skimmed milk
2 550g packs of macaroni
275g of Emmental, grated
300g Cheddar
75g Parmesan
salt

You make this as you would any other macaroni cheese and I'm pretty sure you all are accomplished cooks here and can make a macaroni cheese so Im not going to write out the reipe and some may say that's lazy but hey ho I say it's paying you all a compliment! The only difference with this one is mixing your semi-skimmed milk with the evaporated milk and use that to make your cheese sauce with when adding to the roux.


Accidentally picked up 'light' evaporated milk, I hate anything that's diet or light so was not impressed when I got home.


I bought a small gammon joint and boiled it before covering in honey and roasting in the oven. And yes there is a bit missing because I ate it alright.




Starting to add the mountains of cheese, you can never have enough cheese in a good cheese sauce and that is a real fact


Yes there is a hell of a lot more sauce than pasta and even I think I may have gone over board this time as that is a very deep saucepan with the macaroni just resting on top, but it was inevitable I like sauce, I always make to much and I always will


Ready to go in the oven


Ohhh....


So gooey and cheesy with a delicious golden crust


You may have noticed that my tomato's are un-roasted and that's because I forgot but still included them because you really do need something to cut through the richness of the cheese sauce.

After trying Nigella's version of macaroni cheese with evaporated milk I don't think I would make it again as the evaporated milk gave it a strange taste and I much prefer when I make it using just normal milk. I usually love the taste of evaporated milk so was a bit surprised by that but there you go. Thanks Nigella and thanks Christmas, I love you both! And Thanks Dom for coming up with such a great idea, I will be taking part far more often!