Apricot and Macadamia Crusted Ham

At Hagens we're always on the lookout for new ways to prepare our favourites. Here's a recipe we came across on one of our favourite food blogs: Apricot and Macadamia Crusted Ham... Got your attention yet? 

Macadamia nuts are native to Australia, and have always been a part of Christmas cooking. The simplicity of this recipe is it's strength; you can easily alter it to create your own using a different jam and nut type, mix up the cinnamon for nutmeg, ginger, allspice, cloves etc. 

First you're going to want to pick up one of our Ham legs.

Other ingredients: 

4 x Heaped tablespoons of Apricot Jam

1 x cup of chopped or crushed macadamia nuts 

1 x cup of brown sugar 

2 x tsp ground cinnamon

Pre-heat the oven to 180C fan forced. 

First score your ham by running a small knife in parallel lines over the ham cutting half a cm deep and keep your lines ~2cm apart from each other. You can cross hatch your scoring by doing the same again with perpendicular lines to those you just did. 

Now it is time to get your hands dirty (or use a spatula!) and spread the apricot jam over the ham, ensuring to cover the ham evenly. This provides a sticky and flavourful base for the crust to stick to. 

Now combine the nuts, cinnamon and brown sugar in a bowl, be sure to mix well so there are no cinnamon clumps and surprises! 

Use 3/4 of the mixture to coat the ham, turning it over with your hands to make sure you cover the whole ham, pressing it into the jam.

Place the ham on a baking-paper-lined oven tray. I like to use the rest of the mixture (the other 1/4) to sprinkle over the top side of the ham, so it is just lightly sitting on top of the coating, these bits will get extra brown and add a beautiful colour to the dish. 

Consult the following for your approximate cooking time:

3-5 Kilo Half Hams: 60mins

6-8 Kilo Full Hams: 1hr 30mins 

Keep an eye on the ham, if you're starting to see too much colour and browning on the ham just cover in foil and reduce the heat to 160. 

After cooking, cover in foil and allow to rest for at least 40mins. 

When carving, bare in mind that your ham will last much longer uncut. Slice as you need and keep well covered in the fridge to enjoy ham right through the xmas week.