Kim and Tim visited the Hive at Kew Gardens this year #KewHive and, luckily for me, the bookshop was well stocked with beekeeping and honey related books. My Christmas stocking included "Spoonfuls of Honey" by Hattie Ellis, "A complete guide to honey's flavours & culinary uses, with over 80 recipes."
It's an enchanting book, which I have already read from cover to cover. A high proportion of the recipes are appealing (and it's not often I say that about a cookery book). Yesterday, I was inspired to try "Roman Honey-Baked Ham". Triumphant from the success of helping Tim on Christmas Eve with his honey and mustard glazed ham (Tiptree honey and mustard sauce mixed with demerara sugar), I happened to buy a ham yesterday to cook for this festive season.
I had to adapt the recipe slightly as I didn't have any dried figs; or breadcrumbs; or Dijon mustard.
The photograph above is the succulent result of boiling the ham in water and apple juice with bay leaves, more-or-less as the recipe suggests. The closest I could get to dijon mustard was a jar of mustard seeds. I crushed them in a pestle and mortar and mixed them with honey (Lot number 3). After cutting off the rind and scoring the fat, I coated the ham with the honey and mustard mixture and studded the ham with cloves, just because it looks good.
It tastes every bit as good as it looks! Happy New Year!
No comments:
Post a Comment