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Serves: 8 (with leftovers)
Preparation: 30 minute
Cooking time: 3½ uur
Oven temperature: 180 °C
- 3kg smoked gammon (not previously frozen in the supermarket)
- 1 carrot, roughly chopped
- 2 celery stalks, roughly chopped
- 1 onion, quartered
- 4 bay leaves
- 750ml Prosecco or sweet sparkling wine
- juice and peel of 1 naartjie
- 15ml castor sugar
GLAZE
- 125ml apricot jam
- 30ml honey
- 15ml Dijon mustard
- 15ml marmalade
1. Preheat the oven. Place the gammon, vegetables and bay leaves in a large roasting bag in a deep roasting dish and add the Prosecco and naartjie juice and peel. Seal the bag, prick a few holes in the top and roast for about 2½ hours. Remove from the oven and allow the meat to rest for 15 minutes on a chopping board. Reserve 125ml of the cooking liquid.
2. Use a sharp knife to remove the skin from the meat without removing too much of the fat layer. Using the knife, score the fat in thin lines, squares or a diamond pattern without cutting into the meat. Return the gammon to the roasting dish.
3. Mix the glaze ingredients with the reserved cooking liquid and brush the glaze generously over the meat. Now roast it further so that the layer of fat can get crispy – about 45 minutes or until the glaze is golden-brown and caramelised. Brush regularly with the glaze.
4. Sprinkle a thin layer of castor sugar over the glaze and roast for another 15 minutes or so – this sets the glaze, making it shiny and crisp. Garnish with pomegranate rubies, if desired.
Tip for gammon: Add a couple of naartjie, red onion and blanched fennel slices to the dish 30 minutes before it has finished roasting.
