Ham Hash Cakes with Parsley Sauce

Instead of parsley sauce you could serve these very moreish hash cakes - a brilliant way of using up leftover ham - with mustard, pickles or chutney, as Delia suggests. 

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This recipe is taken from Delia Smith’s Christmas.

Method

If you have a food processor this couldn't be simpler: just put the ham, onion, potatoes, egg and parsley in the goblet and blend till the ham is shredded quite finely. Alternatively you could use a conventional mincer, with the coarse blade fitted.

Transfer the mixture to a bowl, stir in the chopped gherkins and taste and season with freshly milled pepper, but probably not salt. Now divide the mixture into eight equal portions, shape them into neat rounds and press a light coating of breadcrumbs over each one. Then chill the hash cakes in the refrigerator till needed. To cook them, melt the butter with the oil in a frying pan and fry the cakes till golden and crisp – which will take about 5-8 minutes on each side.

To make the parsley sauce, place the first four ingredients in a saucepan and whisk them over the heat till smooth and thickened. Then cook for 5 minutes before adding the parsley and lemon juice, and season to taste. For extra flavour you can infuse the milk with the parsley stalks first but let it get absolutely cold before using it with this method.