Blackcurrant Compote Glazed Ham

{This post was created in partnership with Denhay Farms. I was compensated for my work. All opinions remain my own).

Roasts usually have a reputation of labour intensive meals, which involve hours in the kitchen, achy back and feet and a pile of dirty dishes at the end.  No wonder we reserve them for special occasions. I completely agree, however roasting gammon doesn’t fall in the same category. It couldn’t be simpler and it’s hard to find people who don’t like ham!

A quick clarification for my North American readers’ sake. Raw and cured ham that comes from the hind legs of a pig is referred to as gammon in the UK. Generally, ‘gammon’ as a term is used more commonly than ‘ham” by the Brits and my children, who are turning out pretty English. 😉

One of the reasons ham is so easy to prepare is because it’s already been cured and packs  a beautiful smoky flavour, so you don’t need many ingredients and much effort to pull of a delicious dinner. I was lucky enough to receive a variety of gammon joints from Denhay Farms, an award winning farm located in West Dorset, UK. I was also happy to learn that Denhay smoked and unsmoked gammon joints are available in Waitrose, selected Sainsbury’s and Ocado.

Roast ham and potatoes are my absolute favourite dinner. So delicious but could be a bit heavy, especially now that beautiful weather is finally here I try to stay away from calorie-laden roast potatoes. To serve a lighter and more vitamin-packed dinner I paired my roast ham with a delicious beet and sauerkraut salad.  Traditionally ham is served with a zesty mustard and a sweet and sour pickle to compliment this flavourful piece of meat. I stayed true to the tradition but brought in my own twist with my favourite salad!

I also glazed my ham with a sweet and tart blackcurrant compote, which to me is the most delicious fruit preserve that exists in the world! I pretty much always have a jar in the fridge, it’s so versatile and could be used for sweet and savoury dishes alike. Just the smell alone immediately takes me back to my family home at the end of August, where my grannie would preserve buckets of blackcurrants she grew herself. The compote gives the ham a nice crunchy and slightly sticky coating and a beautiful flavour of summer!

Blackcurrant Compote Glazed Ham

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Course: Main

Cuisine: British

Servings: 6 -8

Author: Julia Frey of Vikalinka

Ingredients

• 3 lbs Denhay smoked gammon joint
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 medium onion or 3 small shallots quartered
• 1 tsp black peppercorns
• 125 ml/1/2 cup blackcurrant compote/preserves
• extra blackcurrant compote for serving optional

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 180C/350F. Place a smoked gammon joint in a roasting pan. To the pan add bay leaves, peppercorns and quartered onion, then add water, it should come halfway up the walls of a roasting pan. Cover with a double layer of tin foil and cook for 30 minutes.
• Take out of the oven, uncover and paint the gammon joint with a blackcurrant compote using a pastry brush, cook for additional 10 minutes or until the internal temperature of ham registers at 68C/150F.
• Let it rest for 20 minutes, then slice and serve.

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