Serves 6

Preheat the oven to 180°C fan.

Melt the butter in a frying pan, add the sliced onions with a pinch of salt and slowly fry over a medium heat for 10 minutes until soft, then remove from the hob.

While the onions are frying, cut the cooked ham into squares.

In a large bowl, whisk the eggs. Add the cream, milk, mustard, nutmeg, salt and a good grind of black pepper. Whisk until smooth.

Bring a large saucepan of salted water to the boil. Add the pasta, and once it comes back to the boil, cook for 2 minutes so it stays very al dente.

Drain in a colander and add the hot pasta to the onion in a gratin dish of 28 x 20 cm.

Stir through the ham and 125g of the grated cheese, then pour over the egg custard and mix.

Scatter the remaining 75g cheese over the pasta.

Mix the coarse breadcrumbs with the melted butter, mustard and a pinch of salt until evenly coated. The crumbs should feel lightly moistened, not wet.
Scatter evenly over the cheese layer.

Bake in the preheated oven for 35 minutes, until the top is golden and crisp – covering the top with foil if it browns too much.

Once out of the oven, leave the pasta bake to rest for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, finely chop the gherkins. In a small bowl, stir together the mustard, gherkin brine and olive oil. Stir through the gherkins.

Cut the pasta bake into portions, spoon a little of the gherkin relish over each portion just before serving.