Food & Wine Magazine: December Cover Recipe

Smoky Glazed Ham with Red Pepper Jelly

3.5 out 5 stars

 

I’m a pork lover, generally speaking, but a roasted ham is at the bottom of that porky list. I like a slice of it sandwiched between a fried egg and a fancy-pants bun for brunch, but as a standalone meat, I’ll take a strip loin any day.

This is just another excuse to confess my love for the Food & Wine cover recipe challenge, however, because there’s always something about the recipe that takes me out of my comfort zone and stretches me. Had I ever roasted a ham before? No, and why would I, it being my least favourite? Did I know how easy roasting ham was? Sure didn’t.

 

 

 

 

Ham still isn’t my favourite, admittedly, but this was easy and tasty enough. More importantly, we had those easy and tasty leftovers for THREE days. Three days! Three whole days of not coming home and cooking after a long day at work. That, my friends, is a winning recipe in my books. Speaking of winning, F. won his floor hockey game that night, so he thought this recipe was downright magical. We may or may not have had to replicate the meal the following week. Men, sports, and superstition!

I went with a 6lb. ham, but the full sauce recipe, as my roasting pan was too large and I didn’t want the sauce or ham to dry out. My timing was a little off, even though I checked the temperature with what was technically an hour left on the clock for the 8-pounder the recipe called for. It was 140 degrees when I took it out to rest, but thankfully it didn’t dry the beast out.

My only complaint about this recipe? The sauce was beautiful – full of fun ingredients and spices – but there’s no mention in the recipe of reserving any of it for the end (which I did anyway). Making better use of the sauce, primarily the carrots and onions that presumably just get discarded from it, would round out the recipe, from a tester’s perspective. These ingredients just fall off the scene once they’re strained.

I served the ham with baby bok choy and new potatoes, my mom’s homemade red pepper jelly, and an American pinot noir.

 

 

 

 

Fun news: Jasmine has a new recruit – from my neck of the woods, no less! Check out everyone’s Food & Wine posts here:

1. Jasmine at CookThatBook
2. Gabby of The Food Girl in Town, who jumped in with January’s cover recipe.
3. Rumour has it Kathy Jollimore will be joining us, too!

Want to join in on the fun? We’d love the company! Pick-up a copy of the latest issue of Food & Wine and get cooking. Be sure to send Jasmine an email at info@cookthatbook.com to let her know you made the cover recipe, and if you’re a blogger don’t forget to post a link to your post in her comments section.

 

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Recipe: Smoky Glazed Ham with Red Pepper Jelly

by Chef Jonathan Sawyer