Gammon with cabbage colcannon

This was one of those meals where I didn't want to go shopping, so just had a look in the freezer and cupboards to see what could be made into dinner.  There was a gammon steak in the freezer, potatoes in the cupboard and a cabbage from the veg box.  Colcannon really should have spring onions in it as well, but I decided that one of the red onions I had in the fridge would do just as well.

The gammon only needs a few minutes to cook, so crack on with the colcannon first.  I've taken to making mashed potato Heston-style - that is, cooking jacket potatoes and mashing the flesh.  That means a bit of advance planning, but I was perfectly happy to have the oven on for two hours on such a cold day!

So: get your potatoes in the oven about two hours before you want to eat, at 190C.  After an hour and a half, they should be cooked through - just stick a knife through to make sure they're soft.

Split the potatoes open and leave them to cool a little, but leave the oven on.

Now chop up some cabbage leaves (kale or leeks would be good too) and an onion.  Get them frying gently in butter and oil.  In an ideal world I'd have chopped the onion a bit more finely, but [insert excuse here].

While that's going on, you can spoon the flesh out of the cooked potatoes and put it into a mash-resistant pan.  Feed the skins to your hungry girlfriend.

The onion and cabbage will be soft by now, so add some milk - just enough to almost cover them up.  Using half milk and half cream would add a bit of luxury.  Season with salt and pepper, grate in some cheese, and add a nice big spoonful of Dijon mustard.

Once the cheese has melted and the milk has reduced, add the contents of the pan to the potato and mash it all together.  Transfer the mash into the oven while you cook the gammon.

Two minutes each side and serve with the colcannon.

Taste verdict

Delicious!  A really cheap meal with some really diverse flavours and textures - a winner all round.  My girlfriend said afterwards that a fried egg on top would have just perfected it, and she was not wrong.

Financial verdict

We're very lucky to have Brock's Family Farm Shop in nearby Alton, selling green gammon steak for £10.40/kilo which equates to £2.65 for a 255g steak which is plenty big enough for two.  Recent partridge, haggis and faggots are from there too.  Otherwise, this is just potatoes, green veg and stock items.

The skinny

Pop a couple of jacket potatoes in the oven at 190C and wait for an hour and a half

Split them open and set them aside

Chop and fry an onion (should really be several spring onions) and some cabbage (or kale, or leek) in butter and oil over a low heat

When the veg is soft, add enough milk to almost cover, grated cheese, salt, pepper and mustard.  Stir and allow to heat through until the cheese is melted

Add the veg/milk/cheese to the potato flesh and mash

Put the potato back in the oven while you cook the gammon