Photo: PhylB / Flickr

Meat, whether it is roasted or sautéed, can be made even more appetising when it is baked in a proper butter-based pastry. Here we share a recipe which will allow you to cater for a dinner party for six with most of the preparation done beforehand. You will need six gammon steaks, dry sherry and a good puff pastry, besides the other ingredients. Allow for a preparation time of 20 minutes, besides cooling and cooking time.

Ingredients for gammon steaks in puff pastry

You will need the following ingredients to make gammon steaks in puff pastry for six: 6 gammon steaks weighing around 750 grams each, two tablespoons of sunflower oil, 35 grams of butter, 1 level tablespoon of brown sugar, 1 level tablespoon of French mustard, a 1/4 cup of dry sherry and 500 grams of prepared butter puff pastry and a beaten egg.

Preparation for gammon steaks in puff pastry

Preheat your oven to 160 degrees Celsius. Place the oil in a frying pan and heat it up while you trim the fat off the gammon steaks. Place the steaks into the hot oil in order to sear them on both sides. Once they are seared, place the steaks in an oven-proof dish.

Remove the oil from the saucepan and add the butter. Allow the butter to melt on a medium heat. Add the sugar, sherry and mustard to the melted butter and stir until the mixture is smooth.

Pour the mixture over the sealed steaks, grind some pepper over the sauce, cover the dish and bake for 20 minutes or until the meat is tender. Let the steaks cool for an hour, remove them and then reduce the sauce.

Wrap the gammon steaks in puff pastry and bake

Roll out the puff pastry to a thickness of three to five centimetres. Cut out six pieces to fit the steaks and wrap each one accordingly. Seal and brush the pastry with the egg. Increase the temperature to 220 degrees Celsius while the pastry chills. Bake for 15 minutes and serve with the sauce.

Tags: cooking, food