I treat holidays like “opposite days.” Most people get the urge to jump in the kitchen during the holidays. They cook more dinners than they would normally and they bake cookies like a Keebler Elf. (Is it politically correct to still call them elves?)
Me, on the other hand, gets really lazy about cooking. I don’t wake up and think what I’m making for dinner like I usually do. I think of how to have enough leftovers in the fridge so my husband can fend for himself. (Which is a reason that it is good that I am not a Keebler Elf or he would just eat cookies?)
I wasn’t a completely horrible wife. I made some macaroni and cheese from scratch one night. (I still might blog on it.) And I made some yummy sticky buns for us to enjoy on Christmas morning. (I rolled a piece of caramelized bacon into a couple of them and must say that it was almost too decadent!)
So for Christmas dinner, he had one request that I honored. He wanted ham. (He actually had another request but making the ham was much easier and wouldn’t mess my hair.)
He likes this one particular ham (Kentucky Legend) so I knew that I didn’t have to break a sweat for his dinner. The key would be to make a special glaze and we’d be all set.
So the best part of me posting a ham recipe AFTER the holidays is that you probably can find a ham marked down at the grocery store and make this for half the price that I did!!! A great excuse to eat some ham on your own!
Cherry Honey Glazed Ham (adapted from the internet)
Ingredients
5 pound ready to eat, cooked ham. ( I used a half ham because I didn’t want to eat ham until 2013)
1 Tbsp melted butter
2 tsp dried thyme
¼ cup apple cider vinegar
¼ cup cherry honey (if you don’t have cherry, use whatever is in the pantry)
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
Directions
Oven at 325.
In a small bowl, whisk butter, thyme, vinegar, honey, brown sugar and Worcestershire sauce. It will be smooth and a little thick. Separate into two portions.
In a roasting pan, place ham in pan. Given I had a half ham, I placed the meaty side directly on the pan and had the fatty goodness upwards. Use a knife and score the fat. (A couple of recipes have told me to foil the pan. I find with sticky glazey things, it just creates another mess but that could just be me.)
Brush about ½ of the honey glaze on the ham. Cover pan tightly with aluminum foil. Cook 20minutes for each pound setting the timer so you are aware of the last 20 minutes. (OOoooo Barb, what happens then?)
In the last 20 minutes, you’ll remove the foil and add the rest of the glaze.
Internal temp should be between 110 and 120. Remember it is already cooked in this case so you are really just heating it up.
Remove from oven, give it a final brush of the pan juices, tent with foil and let it sit for 15 minutes before slicing.
I was pretty happy with this ham. (It was incredibly juicy and I loved the flavor of the honey glaze.) But what always makes me happiest is that I did something for my husband.
So hopefully this post will get me back to my regular 2-3 times a week writing. Thanks for spending this year with me and I can’t wait to feed your eyes in 2013!
