WELSH RAREBIT WITH PALMA HAM

It was my birthday last Friday and I went out for lunch at a fantastic little french place in Knightsbridge called Chabrot Bistro Des Amis - it was fantastic but unfortunately due to all my excitement at turning 25 again I forgot to take any photos. I have informed my fiance that we have to go back so I can review it properly so watch this space....it was very good and I would really recommend it.

http://chabrot.com

Anyway after an indulgent birthday lunch, I wanted to have something light ish the next day before my proper celebrations that night with my friends at Gola. I remembered as a child having welsh rarebit regularly on a Saturday but had never tried to cook it myself (surprising as I am the biggest cheese fan).

This is the recipe I used - unfortunately I should not cook hungover - as I made several mistakes but it still tasted delish in the end! 

My first error was not realising the recipe was for a snack rather than lunch (doh) so we ended up making more however here are the ingredients for 8 mini slices of welsh rarebit  - we had 4 each and a piece of toast which was way too much - in future I would have the 4 pieces with a green salad or do 2 or 3 as a canapé.

Ingredients for 8 mini welsh rarebits:

8 x 1cm thick slices of crusty baton bread / baguette
10g unsalted English butter
10g plain flour (I didn't have any so used self rising and it didn't matter)
60ml semi skimmed milk
100g grated cheddar (I used about 200g as I am a piglet but to be honest it was way too much)!
1 teaspoon of wholegrain mustard
1 egg beaten
4 slices of palma ham 

First things first cut the bread into slices and grill it until lightly golden on both sides and then set aside. Don't do what I did and turn on the oven instead of the grill. I then realised what I had done so turned the grill on and consequently forgot about it!! As you will see from the pictures our bread was certainly cooked!

Over a low heat, gently melt the butter in a saucepan and then add the flour and stir briskly for a minute. Take the pan off the heat and gradually add the milk until it is smooth and creamy. Then return to the heat, bring to the boil and stir for a further minute. Next mix in the cheese and mustard and remove from the heat and finally mix in the beaten egg, until it is once again smooth and creamy and the cheese is completely melted.

Lay half a slice of palma ham on each bread slice and then top with a spoonful of cheese mixture....try to do it immediately so the cheese doesn't harden up.

Then grill for 3-4 minutes until golden....don't do what I did and nearly forget about it again!!!

It was delicious - the cheese and palma ham work brilliantly together and the mustard gives it a little kick. I would definitely do this again as a canapé or starter at a dinner party or for lunch with salad.

You can also use toast if you don't have a fresh baguette although make sure you toast the bread well first.

The reason it was so well cooked this time is that I didn't realise we had a sudden power cut and so the timer didn't go off but the grill was still hot!! Doh Doh Doh!!

Morale of the day - don't cook on a hangover - get a takeaway instead!! But if you can manage to get this recipe right I would recommend it especially if you like cheese.