Braised Ham with Madeira (Jambon braisé au Madère)

Put the bacon joint in a sauce pan along with a scraped carrot and a peeled and halved onion. Just cover with water and simmer for an hour or so until barely cooked. Take out reserving the cooking liquid, allow to cool, strip off the rind and outer fat, and cut into thick slices  Picture  . Put to one side.

Discard the onion and carrot and onion, and put the cooking liquid to one side. Finely chop the shallot or equivalent, grate a carrot, add to a thick bottomed saucepan with a tablespoonful of olive oil, and soften for a good ten minutes over a low light.

Meanwhile put the tomatoes into boiling water, take out, peel and discard all the pips and chop into chunks. Add the tomatoes to the shallot/carrot mixture and mash down for a few minutes with a wooden spoon. Then add a pint/half litre or so of the ham cooking liquid and simmer covered for about 20 minutes. Use a hand held electric whisk to reduce this to a smooth mixture. Add the glassful of madeira and simmer for another few minutes.

Make a beurre manié by rubbing in a tablespoonful of butter with a tablespoonful of flour and stir pieces into the mixture over a low light until you are happy with the thickness. Season well with pepper and some salt. This is a great sauce  Picture  , put to one side.

Meanwhile make the minted carrots  Recipe   and keep warm in a low oven. Discard the outer leaves of the cabbage, roughly chop and add to a thick bottomed pan with a couple of tablespoonfuls of olive oil. Put over a medium light and stir well for a few minutes. Cover, reduce the heat, and cook for ten minutes or so until fairly tender. Season well with salt and pepper.

Brown the ham slices in a little olive oil over a high heat  Picture  . Rewarm the madeira sauce. Put some cabbage on serving plates along with some carrots, put a slice of ham on top, spoon over a little sauce and serve with more sauce on the side  Zoom  .