glazed hamPreparation 20 mins
Cooking 1-1½ hrs
Serves 20
500g apricot jam
185ml (¾ cup) dry sherry
1 large,cold leg of ham, cooked
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
7 star anise, ground with a mortar and pestle
95g (½ cup) soft brown sugar
Chutney, mustard and crusty bread, to serve
1 Stir the apricot jam and sherry in a saucepan over medium heat until it becomes a sticky spread.
2 Preheat the oven to 180°C. Prepare the ham by lifting off the skin but leaving the fat.
3 Score the fat into diamonds about 2.5cm deep (this helps to open the ham up and get the flavour of the glaze into the meat). 4 Mix the cinnamon with the star anise and rub into the fat.
5 Spread two-thirds of the apricot glaze over the ham (keep the rest for basting).
6 Press the brown sugar over the top, making sure some sugar gets into the score marks.
7 Put the ham in a roasting tin, add 2cm of water and cook for 60-90 minutes, basting with the remaining glaze from time to time. Be careful not to let the ham burn.
8 Serve with chutney, mustard and crusty bread
spinach, goats cheese and pesto salad
Preparation 20 mins
Serves 4
Pesto
2 garlic cloves, roasted and peeled
Sea salt
2 tbsp toasted pine nuts
1 anchovy (optional)
100g (2 cups) basil leaves
2 tbsp grated parmesan
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
200ml olive oil
Black pepper, to season
200g baby English
spinach leaves
¼ red onion, finely diced
Sea salt and pepper, pinch
5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
4–6 tbsp soft goat‘s curd
2 tbsp crushed roasted hazelnuts
1 To make the pesto, either using a mortar and pestle or hand blender, pound the garlic to a paste with some sea salt.
2 Add the pine nuts and then the anchovy, pounding all the time.
3 Next, pound in the basil, then the cheese, the lemon zest, lemon juice and olive oil until it has a sauce consistency. Season with black pepper.
4 Lightly toss the spinach leaves with red onion, sea salt and pepper.
5 Add the oil and vinegar, gently toss again and arrange the goat’s curd on top.
6 Mix the roasted hazelnuts with four tablespoons of pesto and drizzle over the top of the salad. Keep any leftover pesto in a screw-top jar in the fridge, covering the surface with a layer of oil.
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