Christmas Glazed Ham

Christmas is approaching, advent is upon us and the turkeys are shaking in there little huts so how about we give the birds a break and have a nice glazed Christmas ham this year instead? No still want your turkey huh? OK well then how about for boxing day lunch?

Andy Wardle presents his Smoked & Spiced Glazed Ham with Pineapple & Cherry Relish

Bits and Bobs you need:

7kg smoked & cooked leg of ham                                                      125g brown sugar

4 tbsp golden syrup                                                                            1 tbsp Dijon mustard

11/2 tsp ground ginger                                                                          1/2 tsp ground cinemmon

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg                                                                         Juice of one orange

 Whole Cloves for decoration

Cherry Relish:

1 fresh pineapple, peeled, cored and cut into 2cm chunks               11/2 tbsp Demerara brown sugar

1 tbsp mustard seeds                                                                      1 garlic clove, crushed
1 small red onion, finely chopped                                                     1/2 tbsp ground cinnamon
21/2 tbsp white wine vinegar                                                              Finely grated zest of one orange 
450g frozen cherries (make sure they are defrosted)                     Juice of one orange  

What you gotta do:

• Put on your favourite Xmas carol CD
• Pre-heat the oven to 180C Degrees / 350F Degrees / Gas Mark 4
• Using a small sharp knife (be very careful, its hard to unwrap presents with no index finger!) remove the skin around the ham making sure you retain the fat.
• Using the same knife lightly criss cross the fat to make a diamond pattern on the ham. Be careful not to score too deeply though, if you cut through to the meat all the fat will fall off during cooking and take all the beautiful flavour with it!
• Take the brown sugar, golden syrup, mustard and spices and mix together in a bowl along with the juice from one orange. pour this mixture over the ham making sure to rub it into all the diamonds.
• Place a clove in each of the diamonds and that's it your ham is ready to roast! 

Roasting:
You will need a large roasting tin with around 1/2 litre of water in the base (this will keep the ham moist as it roasts). 

• Place the ham in the tin and lightly cover it with foil securing the foil at the edges of the tin (do not wrap to tightly as the ham will stick and you will lose all that gorgeous flavour).
• Cook the ham for 1 1/2 hours (depending on your oven) after 50 minutes of cooking increase the temperature to 210C degrees / 415F / Gas Mark 6-7 for the remaining 40 minutes. 

The Relish:

Now while the ham is doing its thing getting all caramelised and scrummy you can prepare your relish. 

• Place all the ingredients in to a saucepan with a decent pinch of salt, stir the mixture over a high heat until the sugar has dissolved. 
• Allow it to come to the boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer. You need to leave this mixture simmering away for around 40 minutes or until most of the liquid has reduced. 

You can now take this of the heat and allow to cool, when at room temperature it will be a lovely sticky relish to serve with you warm winter ham.


Enjoy!