East meets West dry-cured gammon joint with parsley sauce

To cook the gammon, prepare the marinade by lightly frying the chopped garlic, chilli and ginger in a pan with a little oil. Mix with the soy sauces, maple syrup, cracked black pepper and red pepper flakes. For best results place the gammon in a vacuum sealed bag with the marinade and leave for 24 hours; alternately marinade the joint in a sealed container and baste or turn the meat several times in the 24-hour marinating period. Once marinated pre-heat an oven to 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4 and empty the gammon and its marinade into a non-stick baking dish and cover with tin foil. Bake for 60 minutes, basting every 20 minutes. After 60 minutes remove from the oven, turn the oven up to 220°C/425°F/gas mark 7, remove the tin foil, baste in the cooking liquor again then return to the oven for 15 minutes to colour the outside of the gammon. When cooked remove from the oven and test the temperature with your food meat thermometer to make sure the thickest part of the meat has reached 72°C. Let the meat rest for 15 minutes before serving.

To roast the potatoes, pre-heat an oven to 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4. Place the potatoes, duck fat, butter, Chinese five-spice in a high-sided baking tray and season with salt and freshly cracked black pepper. Mix the potatoes to completely cover in the fat and spices and place in the oven. Cook for 60 minutes, turning the potatoes over every 20 minutes until they are crisp and golden brown.

To make the parsley sauce, mix the stock and milk together in a saucepan and place on the heat to warm up, but do not boil. In another saucepan melt the butter and add the flour. Cook the flour and butter mixture for 90 seconds to remove the raw flour taste, then slowly add the hot milk and stock mixture, whisking to make the sauce smooth with no lumps. When all the milk and stock mixture is added bring to a simmer for 30 seconds. Remove from the heat and add the finely chopped parsley, cream, lime zest and juice and season to taste with salt and freshly cracked black pepper.

To cook the green beans, fill a medium-sized pan with water and bring to the boil on a high heat. Place the beans in the boiling water and cook for 90 seconds. Drain the beans through a sieve. Heat a frying pan on a high heat, add the sesame oil, chilli and green beans and lightly fry
for another 90 seconds. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and remove from the heat and serve.

To serve, carve gammon slices and serve with the five-spice roasted potatoes, chilli and sesame green beans, and plenty of parsley sauce.