Health & Recipes

A Roast Leg of Ham with Native Bee Honey and Munthari Berry Brown Glaze with the traditional Black Olive twist

Degree of difficulty: Medium
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 1.5 hours (approximately)

5 kg Leg of Ham (take off skin and some of the fat and score the top of the ham into diamond shapes)
1 cup dark native bee honey or macadamia nut honey
1 cup beef stock with 1/2 cup of crushed munthari berries
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 cup red wine
2 cups munthari berries (have a cinnamon apple flavour) (1 cup crushed, 1 cup whole)
2 and 1/2 cups of beef stock
salt to taste
pepper
1 tablespoon of liquid cornstarch
tin foil for baking

Prepare Ham

1. Take off the skin and some of the fat off top side, but not all of it as that will render down but also keep it moist.
2. Score top surface into diagonal squares with a knife (approximately 2 inches between slices). That will open up into the ham and the fat will keep it nice and moist.
3. Pour 1/2 cup of native honey over the top of the ham (dark colour). Not too much.
4. Pour half a cup of the beef stock with crushed munthari berries over the top of the ham. Just pour a little bit of that over the top.

Cook

1. Put a little bit of foil around the leg to stop it from burning
2. Put in oven for 40 minutes and baste every 20 minutes (with juices in the pan) at 180 to 200 degrees until cooked

As the heat reduces, the fat, will fall down to the bottom of the tray, and also give us a nice basting sauce. The honey will caramelise and it will give it a nice colour on top.

Prepare Brown Glaze with Munthari Berries

This is a brown glaze with the munthari berries that have a cinnamon/apple flavour.

1. Simmer in a frypan over heat the 2 cups beef stock and into it add one cup of the crushed munthari berry juice (strain it into the frypan)
2. Add red wine
2. Add Dijon mustard
3. Add salt and pepper
4. Add 1 teaspoon of native or macadamia nut honey
5. Add 1 cup of whole munthari berries
6. Add cornstarch and cook until the white colour has gone (a couple of minutes only to cook the cornstarch out). That's now ready for when your ham comes out of the oven.