Cherries Jubilee-Black Pepper Glazed Ham and Roasted Root Vegetables

A friend of mine saw this recipe in a Southern Living magazine on a plane and tried it for Christmas. She said it was so good so I had to give it a try for our New Year’s Day dinner. When I first tasted the finished ham, I wasn’t too thrilled about the flavor, but the more I basted it with the chicken stock as it sat, the better it became. It ended up being really good. The vegetables were made the Ina Garten, aka Barefoot Contessa, way — with a little basil added in for good measure.

Cherries Jubilee-Black Pepper Glazed Ham (Recipe adapted from Southern Living)

Ingredients:

1 (10- to 12-lb.) smoked, ready-to-cook bone-in ham
1 (14-oz.) can low-sodium chicken broth
2 cups cherry preserves
3/4 cup Apple juice
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
3 tablespoons cane syrup

Instructions:

Place ham in an aluminum foil-lined roasting pan; add broth to pan. Stir together preserves and next 5 ingredients in a saucepan; bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer, stirring constantly, 5 minutes or until mixture is slightly reduced. Cover and chill one half of cherry mixture until ready to serve. Brush ham with cherry mixture and baste throughout cooking process with same half of mixture.

Bake ham at 275° on lower oven rack 4 hours to 4 hours and 30 minutes or until a meat thermometer inserted into thickest portion registers 148°, basting with remaining cherry mixture every 30 minutes. Let ham stand 15 minutes before slicing.

If desired, reheat reserved chilled cherry mixture. Serve ham with reserved cherry mixture and mustard.

Roasted Root Vegetables

Ingredients:

3 sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
5 carrots, peeled and diced
5 parsnips, peeled and diced
1 lb red potatoes, peeled and diced
Olive oil
Salt and pepper, to taste
Basil, chopped

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Place vegetables in roasting pan. Drizzle olive oil over vegetables. Season with salt, pepper and basil. Toss to coat. Roast for 45 minutes. At 25 minutes, mix vegetables to ensure all are coated.