Ham with Sticky Clementine Glaze

As is the Christmas tradition in Chez M, on Christmas Eve, I cook a gammon that will see us through to New Year. In previous years I have done Nigella's recipes for Ham in Cherry Coke and Ham in Coca Cola, both of which have turned out lovely however this year I decided to try a new recipe which I found in Essentials magazine.

I pretty much stayed true to the recipe aside from adding cloves to the gammon before roasting. The recipe didn't say to do this but as I have done it every other year it felt wrong not to and the cloves give it a lovely bit of spice. Plus, it's not Christmas without some cloves.

The recipe was easy to follow, most recipes for cooking a gammon are, it's just the time it takes but I do find it an enjoyable process and often wonder why I don't cook a ham more often!

Ham with Sticky Clementine Glaze

Ingredients

2kg uncooked gammon joint

2 sticks of celery, cut into chunks

2 carrots, cut into chunks

3 bay leaves

500ml bottle of cider

For the glaze;

whole cloves

zest and juice of 2 clementines

3 tbsp Seville orange marmalade

Method

Place the gammon in a large stock pot with the chopped vegetables and the bay leaves. Cover the gammon with the cider and top up with water. (It took about another 1500ml of water before my gammon was covered, but I used a very big pot!).  Bring to the boil and then reduce the heat and simmer for 2 hours. Remove the gammon from the pan and leave to cool.

Heat the oven to 200c/gas mark 6.  Remove the excess fat from the gammon, leaving behind a thin layer. Score a diamond pattern into the remaining fat layer and stud each diamond with a clove.

Mix the glaze ingredients together and brush all over the gammon.  Bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes until the ham is deeply glazed.

Leave for around 30 minutes before carving or wrap and keep in the fridge to use as and when.

Whatever you do, do not, I REPEAT, DO NOT, get a bit of the glaze on your finger and lick it after it's come out of the oven. That's all I am saying. Ouch.

love & kisses

Mrs M x