Gammon and Pineapple Stir-Fry with Crispy Potatoes
Salty gammon strips and sweet pineapple tossed with golden pan-fried potatoes and a soft-set egg on top. A high-protein stovetop dinner that comes together in one pan.
- Total
- 40 min
- Prep 15 · Cook 25
- Serves
- 1
- Difficulty
- Medium
You'll practice: Pan-frying · Searing
- Savory
- Stovetop
- Oven
Instructions
-
Cut the potatoes into 2 cm cubes. Put them in a pot, cover with cold water and add 0.5 tsp salt. Boil for 6 minutes until a knife just enters the centre with slight resistance, then drain well and steam-dry in the colander for 2 minutes.
~8 min
Parboiling gelatinises surface starch and firms the potatoes so they hold their shape and crisp instead of turning to mush when fried.
Boil the potatoes only until a knife meets slight resistance at the centre. Fully cooked potatoes break apart when fried, while parboiled ones crisp without turning to mush.
-
While step 1 cooks
While the potatoes boil, trim the rind from the gammon steak and cut the meat into 1 cm strips. Cut the pineapple into 2 cm chunks and pat both dry with kitchen paper.
~5 min
-
Heat 1 tbsp vegetable oil in the large pan over medium-high heat. Add the drained potatoes in a single layer and fry for 8 minutes, turning every 2 minutes, until golden and crisp on all sides. Season with a pinch of salt and black pepper, then lift out with a slotted spoon onto a plate.
~10 min
A single layer and minimal turning let each face stay in contact with the hot pan long enough to brown and crisp rather than steam.
Pan-frying Keep the potatoes in one layer and turn only every couple of minutes; crowding or constant stirring traps steam and stops them crisping.
-
Add the remaining 1 tbsp vegetable oil to the same pan over high heat. Add the gammon strips in a single layer and sear for 3 minutes without moving, then stir and cook 2 minutes more until browned at the edges and cooked through.
~5 min
Searing undisturbed in a hot pan drives off surface moisture so the gammon browns through the Maillard reaction instead of stewing.
Pat the gammon and pineapple completely dry before they hit the pan. Surface moisture steams the meat instead of browning it, and the browned edges are where the flavour comes from.
Searing Get the pan properly hot and leave the gammon untouched for the first minutes; moving it too early prevents the browned crust that carries the flavour.
-
Add the pineapple chunks to the pan with the gammon and stir-fry for 3 minutes until the pineapple releases its juice and the gammon is glossy and coated. Return the potatoes to the pan, toss for 1 minute, and season with the remaining salt and black pepper.
~4 min
The pineapple's juice deglazes the pan, lifting the browned gammon flavour and coating everything in a glossy savoury-sweet glaze.
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Heat the small non-stick pan over medium heat. Crack in the eggs and fry for 3 minutes until the whites are fully set and the yolks are still soft. Slide one egg onto each portion of stir-fry and serve.
~3 min