Ham and vegetable bake
An easy ham and vegetable bake that you can make ahead for busy weeknights (see the recipe tips for more details).
Ingredients
- 900g/2lb frozen cauliflower or broccoli, or a mix of both
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 medium onion, sliced
- 2 tbsp plain flour
- 400ml/14fl oz milk (any variety)
- 200g/7oz mature cheddar, coarsely grated
- 1 tsp mustard (optional)
- 300g/10½oz shredded gammon or ham (see recipe tips)
- salt and black pepper
Method
Preheat the oven to 200C/180C Fan/Gas 6.
A third fill a large saucepan with water and bring to the boil. Add the cauliflower and/or broccoli and return to the boil. Once it's boiling, remove from the heat and drain well.
Melt the butter in a large saucepan and gently fry the onion for 3–4 minutes, or until softened but not coloured. Stir in the flour and cook for around 30 seconds before slowly adding the milk a little at a time. Cook for 4–5 minutes, or until thickened, stirring constantly. Add two-thirds of the cheese, the cooked gammon or ham and the mustard, if using. Simmer very gently for 1–2 minutes, or until the cheese melts. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Scatter the vegetables over a shallow ovenproof dish and pour the sauce over the top. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese.
Bake for around 20 minutes, or until golden brown on top and bubbling. Serve immediately.
Recipe Tips
This is an easy recipe to prepare ahead, simply complete steps 1–4 and finish in the oven just before serving (it will take a little longer to cook if it's been stored in the fridge).
This recipe uses a gammon joint that has been cooked ready for use in multiple meals. Batch cooking in this way saves money while still ensuring there's plenty of variety in your meals. The other recipes are a pea and ham soup, a ham hash, and a ham picnic pasta.
To cook the gammon, put a 1kg/2lb 4oz gammon joint in a large saucepan and bring to the boil in 2 litres/3½ pints water. Simmer for an hour. Remove the gammon and set aside to cool. Keep the cooking water to use as stock.
In November 2023 this recipe was costed at an average of £7.55 when checking prices at four UK supermarkets (but if you batch cook the ham as Laura suggests it will be much cheaper). This recipe is designed to be made in conjunction with a low-cost store-cupboard, for more details click here to see how our budget recipes were costed.
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