Ham with Lentils and Saupiquet sauce

Ingredients

Piece of boiled ham, Perhaps leftovers
4 handfuls lentils
1 onion or banana shallot
1 celery stick
1 carrot
1/2 teaspoon caster sugar
2 garlic cloves, finely sliced
1/4 bottle white wine, ideally burgundy
4 tbsp cider vinegar
8 juniper berries, lightly bashed
1 tsp thyme leaves
40g butter
25g plain flour
300ml ham stock
100ml double cream
black pepper to taste

Method

1. Cook the lentils until just ‘a point’ and then drain.

2. Dice the carrot, onion and celery extremely finely, ideally making the cubes just about the same size as the lentils (this is made notably easier using a mandolin with a julienne cutter!). Once diced, soften gently in a little butter or oil and once soft, add in the garlic and cook for a further minute or two.

3. Add the lentils, white wine, cider vinegar, sugar, juniper berries and reduce the liquid to approximately two tablespoons. When reduced, strain into the sauce below, removing the juniper berries and adding them too.

4. Meanwhile in a separate pan, melt the butter, add the flour and cook out the roux to remove the flour taste. Once cooked, slowly add the ham stock and let the sauce thicken (rather than boil) for 10 minutes or so. As you get a minute during this process, heat the ham as required.

5. Just before serving, add the cream to the sauce and warm through, ensuring the sauce does not boil (as this will lead to the cream splitting).

6. To serve, lentils on the bottom, ham on top, with sauce poured over. An excellent leftover’s meal, that will often uproot the main showing!!!