Christmas Ham with a lemon, lime, ginger marmalade and macadamia nut glaze. This crunchy, sweet, zesty, citrusy glaze is a family favourite, one that always makes Christmas lunch that much better. You can prepare the marmalade beforehand so that it’s done before the day and you will just need to add the nuts to the glaze, and then spread it over the ham on Christmas day.

INGREDIENTS

• 7 x lemons (use large lemons)
• 5 x limes
• 2 x long red chillis
• 3 cups x sugar (light muscovado, coconut, brown or white sugar)
• 2 heaped tbsp of finely grated ginger 
• 150 - 200g x macadamia nuts
• 1 large leg of ham (on the bone)
• salt

Extra:

• baking paper 
• 2 sprigs of rosemary

METHOD

1. Prepare the lemon, lime and ginger marmalade first. Zest 4 of the lemons and 2 of the limes then put that zest into a medium size pot. Remove the rind from the lemons, then segment the lemons, removing the white skin (so that there won’t be any extra bitterness) and place the segmented lemons into the same pot. For the limes, remove the rind then cut each lime into quarter pieces and place into the pot. Roughly chop the 2 long red chillies and place into the pot, as well as the sugar and grated ginger. On a medium-high heat, mix the mixture together and bring to the boil then reduce the heat so the mixture is simmering and cook for approximately 20 minutes. You want the marmalade to still be medium runny so not too thick, add a cup of water if it becomes too thick. Remove the pot from the heat and store in a tight jar in the fridge if you’re making it the week of Christmas otherwise if you are making the marmalade the morning of Christmas then set aside. 
2. To prepare the ham, preheat the oven to 150 degrees Celsius. Remove the skin from the ham using your fingers and a small sharp knife to cut off at the edges. Using the same knife, score the fat on the ham in a diamond pattern, don’t cut the fat too deeply. Place the ham on a large baking tray that is deep and covered with baking paper.
3. Roughly chop the macadamia nuts and keep them separate to the marmalade for the time being (keep some larger and some smaller pieces).
4. Using a kitchen brush, glaze the first layer of marmalade all over the surface of the ham. Place the ham in the oven for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven after 30 minutes. Mix the macadamia nuts through the marmalade and then using the kitchen brush coat another thick layer of the glaze, using up the majority of the crunchy marmalade glaze. Return the ham to the oven and cook for 30 minutes then remove from the oven 15 minutes before the ham is ready and coat with any final leftover glaze. The ham will be ready after a total of 90 minutes.
5. Remove the ham from the oven. Season with a sprinkle of salt then wrap a small piece of baking paper around the bone end of the ham and tie with some rosemary sprigs or string and transfer onto a large serving plate or platter. There will also be some of the glaze on the base of the baking tray so just transfer that into a small jar and drizzle it over sliced up ham. 
6. Serve with your favourite Christmas sides!

Prep time: 1 hour.
Total cook time: 2 hours (ham cook time: 90 minutes).
Serves: 1 large family with extra for leftovers.

Recipe and photos by Anastasia Zolotarev. Click here to see her blog.