INGREDIENTS

Cooked ham - 4 oz/person, more if you come from Texas!
Hard boiled eggs (optional) - 1/person
Boiled rice - 8 oz/person
Grated cheese (cheddar is good) - 2 oz/person
Milk - 1/4 pt/person
Cornflour (cornstarch) - 1 tsp/person
Chopped parsley - as much as you like
Mustard (made up, not powder) (optional) - 1/4 tsp/person
Salt, pepper
Tomato - for garnish

METHOD

1. Mince or finely chop the ham. If you're using them, chop the eggs into 6-8 pieces. Cook the rice.

2. Make a white sauce (not too thick) with the cornflour/cornstarch. Stir in almost all the cheese while it's hot. Stir in the mustard to bring out the cheesy flavour (leave this out if you really don't like mustard).

3. Season the resulting cheese sauce with salt and pepper. Personally, I find cooked ham salty already, so I leave out the salt.

4. Grease an ovenproof bowl big enough to hold all the ingredients. Arrange layers of rice, ham, eggs (optional), interspersed with the cheese sauce and chopped parsley. Top off with a layer of rice and the last of the cheese sauce.

5. Cook in a moderate oven (UK gas mark 4, 175C, 450F) until it's all hot through.

6. Bring out of the oven, sprinkle the last of the grated cheese on the top, add some slices of tomatoes over this, and place under the grill/broiler to give a nice crisp topping.

Goes well with cooked green vegetables (broccoli is my favourite) and plenty of tomato ketchup.

Enjoy!

Please Note: This recipe actually comes from my mother, Audrey. She has the good sense not to leave digital photos around, so instead you have a picture of me.