As most of you know, I don't eat pork but my husband certainly has no compunctions about doing so. If you actually ASK a man what he wants to eat for any holiday meal he'll say either one of two words...GRILL or PORK. Often the two go TOGETHER.
The grill wasn't mentioned here but the pork was...in the form of a ham...for Easter. How original huh? If I'd had my way it would have been a Frenched Rack of Lamb with a sea salt and fresh rosemary crust...sigh! At the very least if I MUST make a glazed ham, I have to some kind of gourmet twist on it. Canned pineapple rings, maraschino cherries and a whole clove stuck in the middle makes me feel queasy.
I did a very simple but delicious marinade made of thawed frozen blackberries, brown sugar and Dijon mustard. It made a beautiful deep purple, thick sticky glaze. To make it simply place 2 cups thawed frozen blackberries in the blender. Blend until smooth, strain out the seeds. Pour the juice into a small saucepan, add 1 cup brown sugar and 1-2 tablespoon Dijon mustard (to taste). Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until mixture is reduced by about half, thick and sticky. Use to baste ham with the cooking juices about every 20 minutes.
this is the color or the unbaked glaze...isn't it beautiful?
This isn't burnt...it's actually a very dark purple, sticky GOODNESS!
As the ham bakes, the spiral slices seperate and everytime you baste more glaze on, it runs down between the slices.
It sliced beatifully and the meat is juicy with a sticky "crust" on the outside
Close up of that glorious glaze!
For a simple and delicious side dish try making my Oat Crunch Roasted Sweet Potato Casserole.
You will need:
4 large sweet potatoes
a little coconut oil for rubbing the skins before roasting
4 tablespoons melted organic butter
1/2 cup organic brown sugar
1/2 cup organic 1/2 and 1/2
2 large cage free organic eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Coat sweet potato skins with some melted coconut oil and roast until soft. When cool enough to handle, peel and discard skins. In a large bowl combine melted butter and brown sugar; add cooked sweet potatoes, kosher salt and cinnamon. Beat with electric mixter until smooth.
Add 1/2 and 1/2 and beaten eggs; blend well. Pour mixture into a buttered 9x9 casserole dish. Prepare crunchy oat topping.
4 tablespoons slightly chilled butter
1/2 cup unbleached all purpose flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup rolled oats
1 teaspoon cinnamon
pinch of kosher salt
1/3 cup chopped pecans
combine all ingredients except pecans in a large bowl. Work mixture with fingers; crumbling until butter is thoroughly distributed. Mixture will be slightly clumpy. Sprinkle top of casserole with oat crumb mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until crumble top is golden. Casserole will puff slighlty.
This dish can be made a day ahead and baked later.
A close up of Oast Crunch Roasted Sweet Potato Casserole
As we all know, Jill does NOT do eggs...bad bad ju ju...but I did make some for the hubs. There are some sweet green buttered peas there too. I know...this meal uses far more sugar than I normally cook with. What can I say? He DID pass out in a food coma after lunch though which gave me some time to catch up on my writing without having to listen to the television blaring! Here are a few more pictures of his Easter Dinner.
Happy Easter!
(c) copyright Jill Anderson
The Homegrown Gourmet
This looks delicious! The glaze sounds wonderful! My ham is still sitting in the fridge as I changed my mind and roasted lamb instead for Easter :)
ReplyDeleteThanks! I don't even eat ham...LOL but my husband really wanted some. That glaze is really good and super easy too. You can also use it on chicken or turkey.
ReplyDeletewow, look at that beautiful ham! it's like thanksgiving all over again - except no turkey! im sure you had a great easter feast.
ReplyDeleteThanks! My husband ate HALF that ham before the day was out. He is such a piglet...LOL
ReplyDeleteJill that sweet potato casserole looks delicious. Almost like a crisp for a side dish. You know I'm always up for dessert for dinner.
ReplyDeleteYour glaze sounds wonderful and would work as well on lamb or pork as it does on ham. I stopped by to say hello and stayed much longer than I planned. I really like your blog and will be back often to see what else you've been cooking. I hope you are having a wonderful day. Blessings...Mary
ReplyDeleteSorry about taking so long to get back to everyone. I had a major computer problem...the blue screen of death! My computer was in the shop last week and I was having a total meltdown since I was so worried about losing my data. It's all ok though...even though they had to extract all my files, wash them, wipe my hard drive clean and then put my files back in. What a nightmare!
ReplyDeleteRick...I always check out your creative desserts. I know you have a sweet tooth...LOL. That side dish actually tastes sort of like a crisp dessert which is why my husband loved it so much.
Hi Mary, you are right...that glaze works very well on just about anything...except maybe for fish...LOL. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you will come back. I'll be back to posting this week now that computer problems and company are gone.
thank you Vincent...I'd love to. I will add it this afternoon (got to run out and pick up my co-op order right now) but will do it when I get home. Thanks for the invite and I'm glad you like my blog!
ReplyDelete