Sticky marmalade glazed ham

Sponsored post

I love serving up a stickily glazed ham over Christmas, it just feels so festive and is such an easy meal. You can eat it hot with roasties or mash, or cold with a selection of salads or just whack it in a fluffy white bap – yum!

I normally follow Nigella’s recipe that sees you boiling the ham in coca cola and glazing it with treacle, sugar and mustard, but the folks at Le Crueset got in touch to see if I’d try out their version.

The recipe uses cider to boil the meat in rather than coke, along with slices of apple, carrot, onion, bay leaves, cloves and juniper berries – a really fragrant combination that leaves you with a wonderful stock that’d be great for soup or risotto at a later date.

I’ve adjusted the recipe slightly as I didn’t want to cook enough ham to feed the entire street for a week.

When it comes to the glazing, it’s good to hold back and keep adding it over the course of the roasting stage for an ultra sticky finish. Also, to stop the meat from drying out put a dish of water in the bottom of the oven to get some steam on the go.

The final result was a sticky and sweet affair, the centre-piece for our Boxing Day buffet with friends.

It’s now happily sitting in the fridge getting picked at – I reckon i’ll be able to scratch quite a few meals out of it this week. Love eating leftovers over Christmas!

Clementine marmalade glazed ham

Ingredients

1kg boned, unsmoked gammon joint
3 bay leaves
1 onion, quartered
1 carrot, chopped
1 eating apple, quartered
½ teaspoon cloves
1 teaspoon juniper berries
500ml dry cider or pressed apple juice

For the glaze

3 tbsp clementine marmalade (I used my pink grapefruit and cranberry from last xmas)
3 tbsp light muscovado sugar
2 tsp wholegrain mustard (I used Dijon)

1. Place the gammon joint into a large pan and cover with water and bring to the boil over a medium heat. Once boiling turn off the heat and allow to cool slightly. Remove the joint and discard the liquid from the pan.

2. Return the joint to the pan and add the prepared vegetables, apple, spices, herbs and cider.

3. Add enough water to the contents of the pan to cover the joint and bring to the boil once more. Once boiling, lower the heat to maintain a very slow simmer. Cover the pan with foil to keep in the moisture.

4. Cook for 1 hour. Preheat the oven to 190ºC/170ºC fan/Gas 5.  Allow the ham to cool slightly before removing from the stock into a roasting dish. (Keep and freeze stock)

5. Carefully remove the top layer of skin leaving the fat layer. Score the fat, using a sharp knife, diagonally 2-3cm (1 inch) apart both ways creating a diamond pattern.

6. Mix the glaze ingredients together in a pan over a gentle heat and apply a third of it to the scored ham fat using a silicone basting brush.

7. Place into the oven and cook for 10 minutes, take out and apply another third of the glaze, then return to the oven for another 10 minutes, remove again to apply the remaining glaze and cook for the final 10 minutes. Allow to cool slightly before carving. Serve generously sliced, hot or cold.

This recipe is brought to you by Le Creuset – the casserole dish specialists