REcipe:Gammon, celeria and parsley pie

Let's enjoy cooking !
You will need a 24cm high-sided, fixed-base tart tin or shallow cake tin.

Serves 6
For the pastry:
butter 175g
plain flour 225g
egg 1 yolk
water 2-3 tbsp, cold

For the filing:
banana shallots 5
groundnut or other oil 1 tbsp
gammon smoked or not, trimmed, 650g
plain flour 2 level tbsp
double cream 250ml
parsley 20g
celeriac 150g (prepared weight)
butter 30g, melted 

Method:

Make the pastry by rubbing the butter into the flour using your fingertips or a food processor, until it resembles coarse fresh breadcrumbs. Mix in the yolk and enough water to bring to a firm but tender dough. Pull it together into a ball and knead gently for a minute. Place it on a floured worksurface or chopping board and roll into a disc large enough to line a 24cm high-sided cake tin. Line the tin, pushing the pastry into the corners and up the sides. Fill the pastry case with foil and baking beans and leave to rest in the fridge for at least 20 minutes. Don’t miss this step or your pastry will shrink on baking.

Make the filling by peeling and halving the shallots lengthways, then slice off the root and separate the halves into layers. Warm the oil in a shallow pan over a moderate heat, add the onion and leave to soften but not colour.

Cut the gammon into large cubes, roughly 2cm, add them to the softened onions and continue cooking for five minutes or so, then dust over the flour. Stir the onions, ham and flour and let them cook for a minute or two, then pour in the cream and season with black pepper and very little salt.

Lower the heat, so the gammon and onions simmer gently, and leave, with the odd stir to make sure it isn’t sticking, for 15-20 minutes. Remove the leaves from the parsley and roughly chop, then stir in to the filling and remove from the heat.

Set the oven at 200C/gas mark 6. Peel the celeriac then grate coarsely, as if for a remoulade. This is done in seconds with the coarse grating disc of a food processor. (If you are not using it right now, keep it from browning in a bowl of acidulated water.)

Bake the pastry case for 20 minutes, remove the foil and beans, then return to the oven for five minutes, until the pastry feels dry. Remove from the oven and fill with the gammon mixture.

Drain the celeriac then toss it in the melted butter.

Cover the top of the pie with buttered celeriac, brushing it with any leftover melted butter. Season with salt and pepper. Bake for 30-40 minutes, brushing with a little more butter if the top appears dry. Serve when the top is golden brown.