Nigella Christmas: Food, Family, Friends, Festivities by Nigella Lawson

the cranberry or redcurrant jelly, cinnamon, paprika and red wine vinegar into a little saucepan and whisk together over a high heat, bringing it to the boil. Let the pan bubble away, for about 5 minutes, so that the glaze reduces to a syrupy consistency that will coat the fat on the ham.
    • Now sit the ham in a roasting tin lined with foil, as the sugar in the glaze will burn in the oven as it drips off. Pour the glaze over the diamond-studded ham, then put it in the oven for about 15 minutes, or until the glazed fat has caught and burnished. Take the ham out of the oven and sit it on a wooden board to cool (2–3 hours) before you carve it.
    MAKE AHEAD TIP:
    Cook the ham, loosely cover in a “tent” of foil and keep chilled for up to 1 week.
    PUMPKIN AND GOAT’S CHEESE LASAGNE
    One of the questions I am asked most often is how do I come up with recipes? The answer is simple: greed. When I’m not eating, I’m thinking about what I might want to eat, and the notion of pumpkin lasagne came into my head when speculo-salivating, and it found its way from my head to my kitchen to my stomach with gratifying ease.
    This is an easy lasagne to make in that, unlike a traditional meat one, there are not two sauces to do in advance. I simply cook the pumpkin earlier and layer it up with fresh lasagne sheets (bought in vacuum packs from the supermarket) that don’t need pre-cooking and an easy cheese and egg mixture.
    Don’t be put off by the length of the recipe that follows. It takes longer to explain than to do!
    Serves 12–15
    FOR THE PUMPKIN FILLING:
    2 × 15ml tablespoons olive oil
    30g butter
    8 sage leaves
    2 onions, peeled and finely chopped
    3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
    2.2kg pumpkin, peeled, deseeded and cut into 3cm rough cubes (this is about half a decent-sized pumpkin, a proper eating one, not the Hallowe’en kind. When prepared, it yields just under 2 kilos)
    75ml vermouth or white wine
    60ml water
    1 × 400g can chopped tomatoes
    salt and pepper
    FOR THE TOMATO SAUCE:
    1 × 700g (700ml) bottle passata
    500ml water
    2 × 15ml tablespoons sugar
    2 × 15ml tablespoons Maldon salt or 1 tablespoon table salt
    good grinding of pepper
    FOR THE CHEESE LAYER:
    450g soft fresh goat’s cheese
    500g ricotta cheese
    3 eggs
    good grating of fresh nutmeg
    2 × 300g packets fresh lasagne sheets, 600g total
    2 balls mozzarella
    125g pine nuts, toasted in a hot dry pan
    salt and pepper
    • To make the pumpkin filling: heat the oil and butter in a shallow casserole and fry the sage leaves over a gentle heat for about 2 minutes.
    • Add the chopped onion and minced garlic to the pan and fry very gently for another 10 minutes or so.
    • Add the pumpkin pieces, turn well in the oniony oil and, after about 5 minutes, add the vermouth (or wine), the water and chopped tomatoes. Simmer, covered, for an hour, stirring occasionally so the pumpkin cooks evenly. Taste for seasoning – I tend to add quite a bit of salt here – and leave to cool.
    • For the tomato sauce: simply pour the passata and water into a large jug or bowl, and stir in the sugar, salt and pepper, whisking it all together.
    • To make up the cheese layer: in a separate bowl beat the goat’s cheese and ricotta with the eggs, nutmeg, and salt and pepper to taste.
    • Preheat the oven to 200°C/gas mark 6, slipping in a baking sheet as you do.
    • To assemble the lasagne, begin by putting 500ml of the cold tomato sauce in the bottom of a roasting tin (measuring approx. 36cm × 26cm × 6cm).
    • Then layer with a third of the lasagne sheets, overlapping them well (Italians do it with the tin horizontal but the pasta vertical, if that makes sense, but I don’t know that it truly matters …). Leave the rest of the tomato sauce aside for the time being.
    • Layer a third of the pumpkin filling over the lasagne, and dollop on a third of the cheese mixture, coaxing with a rubber spatula. It won’t cover completely; think more of spreading blobs about. Then