EDWARD HAYDEN’S Christmas feast
With Christmas just around the corner, it is time to get organised for that all-important Christmas Day dinner. Our resident chef Edward Hayden is sharing seven mouth-watering recipes that will guarantee to turn your Christmas Day dinner into a Festive Feast to remember AROMATIC GLAZED HAM
There are so many stories from every family about the tales of the Christmas ham and all too often half of the ham is gone before Christmas day even arrives! I love the ham cold on Christmas night with a turkey and stuffing sandwich. The flavour of the cooking liquor really adds a great flavour to the ham in this recipe.
RECIPE
* 6.6lb/3kg unsmoked ham
* 2 large fennel bulbs-cut into wedges
* 2 red chillies-chopped roughly * 8-10 black peppercorns
* 1 medium sized onion
* 24 whole cloves-approximately * 2oz/50g demerara sugar
* 1 tablespoon honey
* 1 orange-cut into wedges
METHOD
* Place the ham into a large saucepan with the fennel, red chillies, black peppercorns and the diced onion and fill the pot with water, ensuring that the ham is completely covered with water.
* Place the saucepan on the heat and bring to the boil. Once the mixture has boiled reduce the
heat to a gentle simmer and continue cooking for approximately 2 hours. At this stage turn off the heat, allow the ham to cool slightly and then carefully remove from the water and allow to cool completely, preferably overnight, in the fridge. * Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/ Gas Mark 4.
*Next day arrange the ham onto a deep roasting tin, lined with parchment paper and using a sharp knife, score the fat of the
ham in a criss cross pattern. Neatly stud the ham with the whole cloves and then drizzle with the honey. Sprinkle with the demerara sugar and then scatter the wedges or orange around the sides of the ham. Transfer to the preheated oven and bake for approximately 20-25 minutes until a nice caramelised sugar crust has formed on top of the ham. Remove the ham from the oven, allow to rest for 5-10 minutes and then carve.