Nigel Slater’s recipes for cauliflower, ham hock and parsley, and fried rice with greens and peanuts | Meals

I arrive house wanting one thing I’ve not been supplied on my travels. One thing that claims, quietly, deliciously, “Welcome house!” The home is chilly and empty, and I’ve a elaborate for ham with cauliflower cheese. A dinner that I make so not often, if ever, and but for which I’ve one thing of a gentle spot. The nudge got here from a fast journey to the retailers and seeing from essentially the most good cauli I had seen in ages, its cream-coloured curds crisp and with out blemish, full with its crown of inexperienced leaves.

The sauce was left to blip quietly on the range, seasoned with bay leaves and a fistful of parsley, a sauce simply thick sufficient to see the knubbly clouds of cauliflower beneath. I cooked a ham hock to eat with it, then acquired the thought to tear the meat from the bones and stir it into the cheese sauce, utilizing a few of the cooking broth rather than milk. A aspect dish immediately grew to become a full dinner.

Later within the week, my nostalgia quenched, a last-minute supper of fried rice got here to the rescue, the grain matched to chopped winter greens (chard and kale) and freckled by means of with sesame and toasted peanuts.

Cauliflower, ham hock, parsley

Serves 3. Prepared in 1.5 hours

small ham hock 750g
onion 1
carrot 1
celery 1 stick
black peppercorns 6
bay leaves 2
flat-leaf parsley a 40g bunch
water 1.5 litres
cauliflower 1, medium

For the sauce:
milk 250ml
bay leaves 2
black peppercorns 6
butter 50g
plain flour 40g
parmesan 80g

For the breadcrumbs:
contemporary white breadcrumbs 50g
butter 30g

Place the hock in a deep saucepan. Peel and halve the onion, lower the carrot and celery in half, then tuck them across the hock. Add the peppercorns and bay leaves. Take away and reserve the parsley leaves, including the stems to the pot. Pour the water over and convey to the boil.

Decrease the warmth so the water bubbles gently, partially cowl with a lid and go away to simmer for 45 minutes or till the meat is gentle sufficient to be simply faraway from the bone. Take off the warmth and go away till cool sufficient to deal with. Reserve about 250ml of the ham inventory. Pull the meat and fats from the bone, tearing up the meat. Don’t chop them, tough, jagged items is the best way to go.

Make the sauce: heat the milk with the bay leaves and peppercorns, bringing nearly to the boil, then take away from the warmth. Soften the butter in a medium saucepan, then stir within the flour and prepare dinner for 3-4 minutes, stirring often till you may have a pale, biscuit-coloured paste.

Stir within the warmed milk with a wood spoon, including the bay leaves, however discarding the peppercorns. (They’ve executed their work.) Pour in 250ml of the ham inventory by means of a advantageous sieve and stir till utterly clean.

Finely chop the parsley leaves and stir most of them into the sauce. (Avoid wasting for the topping.) Grate the parmesan and stir in all however 10g. Decrease the warmth so the sauce is barely effervescent, and prepare dinner for quarter-hour, stirring at times cease it sticking. Add the ham items.

Minimize the cauli into giant florets, leaving the stems intact. Steam over a pan of boiling water for 7-8 minutes till the florets are tender to the purpose of a knife. Drain and add to the sauce. Preheat the oven to 200C/fuel mark 6.

Rapidly soften the butter in a shallow pan, add the breadcrumbs and allow them to color. Stir within the reserved parmesan and parsley. Switch the cauliflower, ham and sauce to a shallow ovenproof, dish. Scatter over the crumbs and bake for 45 minutes till golden and effervescent.

Fried rice, greens and peanuts

Serves 2. Prepared in 35 minutes

onion 1, medium
groundnut or vegetable oil 2 tbsp

For the rice:
basmati rice 125g
black peppercorns 6
cardamom pods 6
cloves 3

For the greens:
garlic cloves 3
inexperienced chilli 1, small and sizzling
kale and chard 150g complete
floor nut or vegetable oil 2 tbsp, plus just a little further
peanuts 100g, salted and roasted, chopped
sesame seeds 2 tsp
toasted sesame oil 2 tsp
darkish soy sauce 1 tbsp

Peel the onion and slice it into advantageous rings. Heat the oil in a shallow pan, stir within the onions and fry over a average warmth till deep golden brown. It’s best to not hurry this. Take your time, protecting a detailed eye on the onions as they soften. They may take about 15-20 minutes. Raise them from the pan with a draining spoon and drain on kitchen paper.

Wash the rice in heat water till the water is not cloudy, then put it right into a medium-sized saucepan. Add the peppercorns, cardamoms and cloves, 1 tsp of salt, then pour in sufficient water to cowl the rice by 1cm. Deliver to the boil, then cowl tightly with a lid, decrease the warmth and let it prepare dinner, gently puttering, for quarter-hour. Take away from the warmth with out lifting the lid.

Peel and grate the garlic to a paste. Seed and finely chop the chilli. Trim and wash the greens, then roughly chop them. Heat the oil in a shallow pan, add the greens and allow them to prepare dinner briefly, then take away with a draining spoon. Wipe the pan, add just a little extra oil, then stir within the garlic and chilli allow them to prepare dinner for 1 minute till aromatic. Scatter within the peanuts and sesame seeds and allow them to toast for a second or two. Take away the entire spices from the rice, then tip the rice into the pan and let it sizzle briefly. Stir within the greens and allow them to heat by means of. Trickle over the sesame oil and soy and serve.