Sparkling Wine and Vanilla Bean Glazed Gammon

Make your ordinary holiday ham extraordinary with a sparkling wine and vanilla bean glaze.

INGREDIENTS

9 kg Bone-in cured gammon (bake for 45 minutes per kg of gammon)
4 – 6 shallots or small brown onions, halved
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
3 sprigs of rosemary
1 Tbsp whole peppercorns
1 tsp cloves
1.5 litres chicken stock or water
Sparkling wine and vanilla glaze
2 ½ cups sparkling wine
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
1 cup apricot jam
Sticky blueberries
350g blueberries
2 Tbsps. runny honey

METHOD

Preheat the oven to 160°C.

For the gammon:
Arrange the shallots, celery, carrots, rosemary, peppercorns, and cloves in the bottom of the Le Creuset Stainless Steel Rectangular Roaster. Place the gammon on top and add enough water to come ¾ up the sides of the tin. Cover with 2-3 layers of tightly fitting tin foil and roast for 5 – 5 1/2 hours.

To glaze the gammon, remove the skin and enough fat from the ham so that only 1/2cm of fat remains. Using a sharp knife, score the fat in a crisscross to form diamond-pattern. To make the glaze, bring the sparkling wine, vanilla and apricot jam to the boil, approximately 5-8 minutes until slightly thickened.

Brush the gammon with the glaze and place in the oven. Bake the ham for about 45 minutes at 180°C, basting every 10 minutes, until the gammon is heated through and the glaze nicely coloured and sticky. Remove the ham from the oven and let it rest for 30 minutes before carving.

Sticky blueberries:
Heat the blueberries and honey in a saucepan for 2-3 minutes until the berries have heated through.

To serve, carve the gammon thinly and serve on a platter garnished with the sticky blueberries.