New Year Roasted Ham

Roasted Ham is a perfect meat dish for the New Year Eve party as it is pretty simple to cook and super enjoyable to eat. This beautiful piece of meat will serve as a great decoration for your table and will delight your guests. Moreover, the leftovers can be used as nice cold cuts ;)

Ingredients:

• 4 kg piece of middle-cut gammon
• 1 Tbsp black peppercorns
• 1 onion , peeled and cut into wedges
• 1 bouquet garni , (leek, celery, bay leaves, thyme)
• Jerk
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 3 chilies
• 3 red shallots
• ½ a bunch of chives
• 1 Tbsp honey
• ½ a bunch of fresh thyme
• 3 fresh bay leaves
• 1 tablespoon ground allspice
• 1 tablespoon ground nutmeg
• 1 tablespoon ground cloves
• 100 ml golden rum
• 100 ml malt vinegar

For glaze:

• 1 orange
• 3 Tbsp bitter marmalade
• 150 ml golden rum

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 160°C/gas 3.
2. Peel and cut the onions into wedges. Place the ham in a roasting pan and add the peppercorns, onion and bouquet garni.
3. Add water until it comes halfway up the side of the pan. Cover the ham with foil (making a tent to allow steam to circulate). Bake for 1½ hours or until pink and cooked through, then remove from the oven and cool for 30 minutes, remaining covered.
4. While it’s still warm, you will need to carefully remove the skin, keeping the fat attached to the ham. With a sharp knife, score the ham by making diagonal cuts across the leg.
5. To make the jerk seasoning, peel and chop the garlic and shallots, deseed and chop the scotch bonnets and finely chop the chives. Blend all the ingredients with a decent pinch of salt in a food processor until smooth.
6. Rub the jerk seasoning all over the ham and scored fat, cover in plastic wrap and pop in the fridge overnight, preferably 24 hours.
7. Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas 4.
8. Combine the glaze ingredients in a bowl. Remove ham from the fridge, scrape off excess seasoning and bake for 1 hour. Remove from oven, brush with glaze, then continue cooking the ham for another 30 to 40 minutes, basting with glaze every 10 minutes until crisp, golden and sticky.