Yes yes, it is here again folks the unmentionable 'C' word that descends on us good people once a year. The shops have gone mad along with the people inside them,we are discussing weird and wonderful presents we know that person is definitely going to love....but top of the list is but of course what are we going to eat and drink!
Rather by my bad memory than my forethought i stumbled across our homemade cider in the cellar that has now brewed for 3 months as recommended by the recipe and am very interested to see what effects it has. My dad often tells me a story of his own homemade cherry wine being thrust into any guest at the bbq of 1984. Suffice to say no one can remember a single thing from that day and there are only pictures of adults riding toy tractors and cars on the lawn. We wait with bated breath :)
We have been very fortunate to be given the use of some land for the next few months until june to grow our garlic, pak choi and beets and of course our surfinia and begonia plants ready for next May. Our hanging basket and pots order came the other day and suddenly it all became very real as a great big arctic lorry pulled up outside our little cottage with pallet after pallet of the baskets. At that moment i was glad we only ordered 300 and not the 1700 originally planned!
So back to Christmas, i have been salivating over all the delicious food that is available to us this year and we are opting for the non traditional christmas meal of beef and a ham. Every year i make a ham and its always the first thing to go as ganits decent on the Toney household all keen for a nibble. So much so now i have started making smaller hams for friends christmas presents to preserve our own :) I watched jamie Olivers Christmas special from last year the other day and saw his delicious looking jerk ham, covered in scotch bonnets and rum and glazed with marmalade (find it here http://www.jamieoliver.com/magazine/recipes-view.php?title=jamie-s-jerk-ham ). Quite unconventional but still quite delicious but i still say you can't go wrong with honey and mustard on a ham for the table. Heres how we at The Soul Patch makes ours
Honey and Mustard Ham
*Get your ham from a butcher, you will get a lot more for your money and a lot more for your leftovers and he will advise you on boiling times for it
*Boil your Ham in a good sized pot for the recommended time with relation to its weight with the fat on, making sure the ham is completely covered and is not left to boil dry.
*Add peppercorns and a bay leaf in the water whilst it is boiling to infuse into the ham
*After the desired amount of time remove from the water and take off the fat with a sharp knife, this should be very easy now.
*Slit the top of the ham in a criss cross way all over just cutting through the thin layer of fat left and not in to the ham itself
The glaze
*Your ham is now essentially cooked and needs to cool for about an hour so the glaze sits on it nicely
*Mix up in a bowl...
*4 table spoons of wholegrain mustard
*1 table spoon of mustard powder
*4 table spoons of onion marmalade
*6 table spoons of good quality honey
*pinch of salt
*plenty of freshly ground black pepper
This should form a good paste and stick to the ham well. make sure you cover all of the top of the ham and include the sides, you can do this with a brush or the back of a spoon.
*Put on a roasting tray in a preheated oven @150 degrees C for 20 minutes basting the ham with its own glaze every five minutes or so.
*After the 20 mins is up remove and leave on its tray on the side to cool or eat it hot straight away. If you leave it to cool pop it in the fridge after about 2 hours and the glaze will turn into an amazing sticky delicious treat.
Enjoy however you like my favourite way is at about midnight after the pub closes and a tasty slice is there waiting to be carved off with a nice hunk of bread.
Happy Christmas from all of us at The Soul Patch and we will see you in the New Year with our weight watchers subscription form :(
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