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Gammon, beetroot and fennel.
Ham it up: gammon, beetroot and fennel. Photograph: Jonathan Lovekin/The Observer
Ham it up: gammon, beetroot and fennel. Photograph: Jonathan Lovekin/The Observer

Nigel Slater’s gammon, beetroot and fennel recipe

A quick and tasty midweek supper

The recipe

Trim, halve and finely slice a medium-sized bulb of fennel, reserving any fronds for later. Melt 25g of butter and 2 tbsp of olive oil in a shallow pan then add the fennel. Leave over a moderate heat to soften without colouring, stirring from time to time. Remove to a bowl and set aside. Roughly chop 250g of cooked beetroot and set aside.

Season 2 gammon steaks, each 200g, either smoked or unsmoked as you prefer, then cook them in the empty pan until the meat is tender and the fat is lightly golden brown, using a little more olive oil or butter if needed.

Add the chopped beetroot to the fennel and season lightly together with any reserved fennel fronds. Remove the gammon from the pan on to warm plates. Divide the fennel and beetroot between the 2 plates. Enough for 2.

The trick

Keep the fennel and beetroot separate until just before you add it to the gammon, to prevent the beetroot from discolouring the fennel. No one wants to eat Barbie-pink fennel.

To prevent the gammon steaks from curling as they cook, carefully snip the rim of fat every 2cm round the edge with kitchen scissors.

The twist

Use a piece of pork fillet or a pork steak instead of the gammon, batting each piece out to roughly 16cm in diameter. It can be cooked in the same way, or browned on a griddle if you prefer.

The same can be done with a chicken breast or boned leg. If beetroot isn’t your thing, the sweet element can be introduced in the form of cubes of steamed butternut squash.

Email Nigel at nigel.slater@observer.co.uk or follow him on Twitter @NigelSlater

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