Monday 25 March 2013

Incredibly simple very juicy ham

This lovely piece of organic smoked ham gave us two warm and delicious meals to fend off this ridiculously snowy weather: slow cooked ham shredded and eaten with cabbage & sour dough bread and a simple but robust risotto. The secret ingredient? Lashings of Colman's English mustard!




- Take a good quality free range smoked ham, put it in a large pan and cover with water. Bring to the boil slowly to allow the excess salt to escape into the water. Drain and pat dry.
- Stud the ham with 8-12 cloves then slather it very liberally with Colman's English Mustard and put it into your slow cooker. Sprinkle brown sugar generously across the whole ham, letting it stick to the mustard. Pour a glass of cloudy apple juice into the base of the slow cooker and you're done.
- Switch the slow cooker on low & head out to work, read a book or have a nap - leave the ham for at least 4 hours, more ideally about 6-8 hours.




What you will get is the most beautiful, juicy, tender ham that will come apart easily with just a little coaxing from a couple of forks. Serve with lightly steamed cabbage with the cooking liqueur spooned over the meat and some sour dough bread to mop it up.

The leftovers will make an unusual risotto with a sweetness from the apple & sugar with a deep warming hum from the mustard. Perfetto!