Christmas! Ham! Christmas Ham !

No big meals cooked in my kitchen this Christmas. Dinner on the 25th was at Mums, as usual. However, we DID have guests on the 27th , so it was into the kitchen for some buffet food. Aside from the usual nibbles, I was particularly proud of my Baked Christmas Ham With Sugar and Mustard Crust. It tastes amazing and I strongly recommend you try it ...
I soaked the ham for two days in regularly changed water, to leach the salt out (didn't do that one year and it was well, salty) . Boiling the ham next in a stock base of celery, onions, carrots and bay leaves. In the meantime, I prepared the glaze by mixing together two teaspoons of dijon and english mustard, with 25g of butter and 300g of dark muscovado sugar, ground cloves, ground ginger and ground cinnamon (note: next time I'm doubling up the mustard). The recipe calls for 20-odd cloves, but I find that the taste becomes too medicinal, so lay off the cloves unless you're really fond of them.
Pre-heated oven, 200 degrees, smear the paste over the ham  and throw it in, making sure to baste at least twice. The glaze is REALLY sticky and goes like a treacle, but its SO worth it.
After about 20 minutes, one last baste and then back in for ten. Finally remove the ham and slowly baste as it cools, it gets very very sticky but hardens to an impressive glaze. (make sure you wash the pan/bowl right there and then otherwise you'll come back to something like concrete in the morning, trust me...)
The casing of sugar and mustard is crisp and tasty, it seeps into the meat and leave a delicious aftertaste...just right for Christmas ... it's so good that one of my fans stated that the chutney it was served with actually detracted from the taste - so there you go...!

Jamie roools!

So, watching Jamie's Christmas last night and off he goes making his 2002 squash and chestnut soup. "Mmmm" thinks I, even though I'd just polished off one of Pizza Italia's 16" Thin and Crispy ham, mushroom, double pepperoni and pineapple pizzas...
Mrs. Fod has been in a classroom all day, so I guessing she'd like something when she gets in that isn't "naughty". So off I go ... crush two tablespooons of coriander seeds with two hot dried chillies, rub them all over two massive halved butternut squashes and cover with olive oil before bunging in the oven at 200 degrees. Meanwhile, fry pre-cooked chestnuts, a large onion, pancetta and sage leaves in oil, then bung all that into a big pan, scoop out the squash (should be soft after about 25 minutes) , add that to the pan, cover with chicken stock and bring to the boil. He did a half and half , to get a "rustic" thickness to the soup, I couldn't be bothered, just whizzed it with the whizzer until it was all smooth and served... (as St. Jamie would say: "..luverly jubbly...") .. It was really nice  and didn't need any seasoning either...