A summer ham is so versatile. It goes seamlessly from Sunday dinner to Monday morning breakfast with eggs, and then maybe a ham sandwich with dill pickles and mustard for lunch. Stone fruits are one of my favorite things about the summer – they remind me of this lazy, easy time of the year and have such versatility. I decided to combine the two: I pickled some apricots as a delicious garnish, as well as pureeing some into a glaze, for a sweet edge on the ham. The beautiful late summer color in this dish makes it a feast for the eyes as well as the stomach.
I hope you’ll give this a try – happy summer!
Glazed Ham with Pickled Apricots
Serves: 6-8
Prep time: 1 ½ hours plus a day for pickling
For the pickled apricots:
Ingredients
- 10 large apricots
- 3 cups water plus ½ cup
- juice of one lemon
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 ½ cups distilled white vinegar
- 4 teaspoons pickling spice
- ¼ teaspoon salt
For the ham:
Ingredients
- 1 one-pound ham
- 1 cup orange juice for basting
- 4 cups dried apricots
- 1 cup water
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 5 tablespoons light brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons honey
- ¼ cup orange juice for glaze
Directions
- To make the pickled apricots:
- Halve apricots. Add lemon juice to water, remove from heat and soak for 15 minutes.
- Drain apricots and sprinkle with sugar.
- Cover apricots and allow to sit in refrigerator to marinate for 8 hours.
- Add vinegar, spice, salt and ½ cup water to apricots.
- Bring mixture to a boil and skim off foam.
- Reduce heat to low and simmer until apricots are tender, 2-3 minutes.
To make the ham: - Put ham and 1 cup orange juice in a deep baking dish and roast at 325 degrees for two hours, basting the ham with the orange juice every half hour.
To make the glaze: - Combine apricots, water, lemon juice, brown sugar, honey and orange juice in a pan, simmering on low heat until the sugar dissolves.
- Bring to a boil, then return to low heat for 15 minutes until apricots are tender.
- Puree the apricots with the orange juice that’s left in the pan.
- Brush the puree over the ham and allow to cook one more hour, re-glazing every 15 minutes.
- Remove ham and serve with pickled apricots on the side.
