Sweet & Spicy Baked Ham

Do you like green eggs and ham? I do not like them, Sam I Am.

Okay, so no green ham here today, but it's got speckles of green! For New Year's Eve, I wanted to whip up a fancy, delicious dinner for the family. Ham tends to be quite salty and my family is kind of salt intolerant so we usually avoid heavily salted foods (like ham). However, a few years ago, we were gifted a really cute, tiny baked ham. I made a pineapple glaze and it ended up being (surprisingly) delicious. We actually enjoyed ourselves. So, having let an appropriate amount of time pass, we were ready to enjoy another ham.

This time, I opted for a sweet and spicy glaze because my family loves spicy food. The more mouth-numbing, the better. One time, we had peppers that were so spicy, I got the hiccups, and it was one of my favorite meals ever.

I know it's weird to share a holiday meal way after the holidays but we still have our Christmas stockings hanging up so it's clear that our household isn't really on top of caring about what's appropriate to do and when, huh?

Ingredients [serves 4 to 6]:
2 lb. sweet slice ham
¼ cup apricot jam
2 tablespoons dijon mustard
1 teaspoon crushed pepper flakes
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 jalapeno, sliced

The glaze is so friggin' easy. Just mix together the jam, mustard, minced garlic, and hot pepper flakes.

Remove the ham from the packaging and rinse it under cold water and pat it dry. Pop it into the baking dish and score the whole surface in a diamond pattern.

Slather the whole thing with glaze and then dot the surface with sliced jalapenos. Pop the ham in a 375F oven for 30 minutes, or until it's warmed through and the glaze is bubbling and caramelized. Hams are (usually) fully cooked so all you have to do is warm them.

Whilst the ham is baking, work on the side dishes. I made a batch of buttermilk biscuits and mushroom soup.

Here's the lovely, glazey crisped up ham.

Plate it up, slice it, and serve. The glaze adds a lovely sweet and spicy contrast to the salty ham. It's a decadent holiday protein but it's so friggin' easy that you could definitely serve it year round.

Here's the recipe page: