Getting dinner on the table needn’t mean spending hours in the kitchen. In Cook More, Spend Less by Jo Rourke, the mum of three behind @this.mum.cooks, shares practical meal-planning tips, quick 30-minute recipes and 10 weekly meal plans designed to make family cooking simpler. Drawing on her own experience of feeding a busy household, Jo offers achievable ideas for taking the stress out of mealtimes, helping parents plan ahead and serve up delicious family dinners, even on the busiest of days.
We share two recipes from the book Jo’s slow-cooked honey gammon, followed by gammon and roasted red pepper penne, which transforms the leftovers into a second delicious family meal. A clever way to make family mealtimes that little bit easier.
SLOW-COOKED HONEY GAMMON
Often the larger the piece of meat that you buy, the more economical it becomes, but this does not have to mean days of eating the same meal. Slow cooking a gammon joint can create so many amazing dishes, and if you are cooking for fewer people, it freezes really well and can even be made into delicious sandwiches for packed lunches. You can roast your gammon joint in the oven, just make sure it is well wrapped in foil to retain the moisture, but my favourite way to cook a gammon joint is in the slow cooker, then I finish it in the oven for the perfect glaze.
@this.mum.cooks
- 2kg unsmoked gammon joint
- 1 onion, peeled and quartered
- 1 tbsp runny honey
- 1 tbsp dark brown sugar
- 1 tsp black treacle
- 1 tsp English mustard
- 1kg potatoes, peeled and sliced
- 500g carrots, sliced
- 200g frozen sweetcorn
- 30g salted butter
- A splash of milk
- Salt and black pepper, for seasoning
- 4 fried eggs, to serve (optional)
Method
Place the gammon in the slow cooker pot with the onion quarters and 1 litre of water. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours.
Half an hour before serving, preheat the oven to 180°C fan/200°C/gas 6 or preheat the air fryer to 180°C and bring two pans of salted water to the boil.
Remove the gammon from the slow cooker. Remove the string, rind and fat from the gammon, then score the top of the meat.
Mix the honey, sugar, black treacle and English mustard together in a small bowl until well-combined. Wrap the bottom of the gammon in foil and glaze the top with the honey glaze. Place in a roasting tray or in the air fryer and bake in the oven or air-fry for 15–20 minutes until golden.
Meanwhile, cook the potatoes in one pan of boiling salted water until soft, about 20–25 minutes. Cook the carrots in the second pan of boiling salted water for about 10–15 minutes until tender, adding the frozen sweetcorn 5 minutes before the end.
Once the gammon is ready, remove from the oven/air fryer, cover with foil and set it aside to rest for 10 minutes before you start slicing.
Drain and mash the potatoes with the butter and a splash of milk, then season to taste.
Serve slices of the gammon (approx. 700g, with the remaining set aside for future meals) with the mashed potatoes, carrots and sweetcorn, with a fried egg on the side, if you like.
Ensure that you cool the leftover gammon as quickly as possible and store in the fridge in an airtight container.
NO SLOW COOKER? Slow-cook the gammon in the oven. Preheat the oven to 140°C fan/160°C/gas 3 and place the gammon into a lidded ovenproof dish with the onion and 1 litre of water. Tightly wrap foil over the top of the dish, cover with the lid and cook in the oven for at least 5 hours, or until the gammon is thoroughly cooked and tender. Reserve the stock as in the main recipe.
* You can store in the freezer for up to 3 months. Freeze in portion sizes well-wrapped to prevent freezer burn, and defrost overnight.
GAMMON & ROASTED RED PEPPER PENNE
This dish is an ideal recipe for using up the leftover pieces of gammon. You can switch the roasted red peppers for fresh peppers, but I find the depth of the flavour from the jarred peppers balances the saltiness of the gammon really well.
@this.mum.cooks
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion, thinly sliced
- 1 tsp chopped garlic
- 1 tbsp tomato purée
- 100g mushrooms, sliced
- 150g (drained weight) roasted red peppers (from a jar), sliced
- 400g can chopped tomatoes
- ½ tsp dried thyme
- 300g leftover gammon (see page 000), sliced
- 320g dried penne
- Salt and black pepper, for seasoning
- A shaving of Parmesan, to serve
Method
Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil for the pasta.
Meanwhile, in a separate large pan, heat the olive oil over a medium heat. Add the onion and fry gently for 5 minutes.
Add the garlic and cook for a further 2 minutes. Add the tomato purée and cook for a further minute.
Add the mushrooms to the pan along with the roasted red peppers, chopped tomatoes, thyme and leftover gammon. Bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook for a further 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, cook the pasta in the pan of boiling salted water according to the packet instructions.
Just before serving, stir a ladleful of the pasta water through the sauce. Drain the pasta and stir through the sauce, then adjust the seasoning to taste.
Serve with a shaving of Parmesan. This is great on its own, or you can serve alongside a green salad.
TIP: If you have extra gammon left over from the joint, this is the perfect recipe to double up. You can either freeze the whole recipe, or to save space in the freezer, simply double up the sauce and freeze in individual portions for quick meals at a future date.
*You can store in the freezer for 3–6 months. Defrost in the fridge overnight.
Jo’s 5 Tips for Getting Dinner on the Table After School
Finally, give everyone a job to help out making dinner, depending on their age. This could be helping to prepare the vegetables, setting the table, getting the plates out and don’t forget clearing away after tea. The more hands that help the quicker it will be.
Cook More, Spend Less by Jo Rourke
