Autumn is nearly upon us and it’s been so unsettled it took the farmer nearly a fortnight to harvest the wheat field at the bottom of our garden. Nonetheless I’m clinging to the end of summer and the hope of more sunshine between the downpours.
If the weather is hot and you don’t want to stand over the stove for too long, or if you’re like me and just can’t face reality, this recipe is perfect. It’s lively with sweet/sour/salt/hot flavours and requires the minimum of cooking.
I like it with griddled sweetcorn, or French beans with a drizzle of vinaigrette, or just a big crunchy salad. Buttered new potatoes are good, too, but it’s your dinner, serve it with whatever takes your fancy.
Gammon with Pineapple Salsa
Ingredients:
2 gammon steaks
Oil
For the salsa:
150g fresh pineapple, peeled and sliced, diced small
1/2 to 1 red chilli, de-seeded and finely chopped
Zest and juice of 1/2 lime
1 tspn soft light brown sugar
Salt, to taste
Small bunch of fresh basil
Method:
Mix together all the salsa ingredients except the basil and set aside while you cook the meat. If you don’t like things too fiery, use the smaller amount of chilli and taste. You can always add more if you want it hotter.
Heat the grill, barbecue or griddle pan, whichever works for you. Snip any rind on the gammon steaks every few centimetres so they don’t curl up on cooking.
Brush or spray lightly with oil and cook on medium-high, turning once, until firm but still juicy. Timings depend on their thickness; ours only took a couple of minutes a side. Rest somewhere warm for a few minutes.
Pull the basil leaves from their stems, place one on top of another, roll into a cigar and slice across thinly into a chiffonade. Add to the salsa bowl and serve with the gammon and your choice of side dishes.
*smile* Sweet-and-sour-pork the British way ! Interesting ! Love it that your pineapple is fresh and not that ghastly stuff out of a tin !!
Thanks, Eha.
Pineapple is one of the reasons why I could never go completely locavore!
That plus citrus fruit, here.
the salsa sounds really delicious. not sure what gammon steak is? I mean I know it’s pork, but i’m not a fan. I think this salsa would also go well with chicken. mm tasty dear … as they say in the movies. cheers sherry
Gammon is a type of ham, Sherry. Glad you like the look of the salsa – it goes with all sorts of things (we even ate it with a curry). All the best, Linda.
Looks lovely, Linda. And like you, I’m not quite ready for the summer to be over. It really hit home this morning at the market. I was fresh back from a short trip to Panama, and suddenly there were apples and pears and grapes and winter squashes… Had some really mixed feelings about that!
I know what you mean, my husband is appearing daily at the kitchen door with plums and apples when I still want to be eating summer fruits … but I do love autumn and everything it brings.