Swine Flu, Easter Edition

I know, Easter was a long time ago. But I thought better late than never, so here goes. I love ham and pork, its my thing. So Easter is just my big excuse to get a huge hunk of delicious ham and eat the leftovers for weeks! This Easter I had big plans; a huge meal, lots of friends, good desserts... But this was all before Easter Eve, where Sugar and I decided to party like rockstars and get home at 4am... Needless to say, we were both in rough shape (Sugar more so). But I pulled the ultimate rally and made my ham! It was amazing and surprisingly helped with our hangovers from hell. This is a Tyler Florence recipe, and so worth your time.

Tangerine Glazed Ham with Baby Carrots

1 (8 to 10-pound) smoked ham, bone-in, skin on
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 bunch fresh sage leaves
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut in chunks
2 tangerines, sliced thin, seeds removed
2 cups tangerine juice
2 cups light brown sugar, packed
1 cup water
1/4 teaspoon whole cloves
2 cinnamon sticks
11/2 pounds carrots, peeled

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.

Put the ham in a large roasting pan, fat-side up. I would also recommend putting on a rack, depending on tha ham, you could get a ton of fat drippings. Score the ham with cuts across the skin, cut diagonally down the slashes to form a diamond pattern; season the meat generously with salt and pepper. Chop about 8 of the sage leaves and put it in a bowl; mix with the oil to make a paste. Rub the sage-oil all over the ham, being sure to get the flavor into all the slits. Bake the ham for 2 hours. Now it's time to start that glaze.

For the glaze: Place a saucepan over medium heat. Add the chunks of butter, tangerines, tangerine juice, brown sugar, water, and spices. Slowly cook the liquid down to a syrupy glaze; this took me almost an hour, but I was scared of burning it. For those who are more daring with the heat it should only take about 30 to 40 minutes.

After the ham has being going for a couple of hours take it out and drain away some of the fat drippings now pour the tangerine glaze all over it, with the pieces of fruit and all. Scatter the remaining sage leaves on top and stick the ham back in the oven and continue to cook for 11/2 hours, basting with the juices every 30 minutes.

Scatter the carrots around the ham and coat in the tangerine glaze. Stick the ham once again back in the oven and cook for a final 30 minutes, until the carrots are tender, the ham is dark and crispy, and the whole thing is glistening with a sugary glaze.

Just one more pic, its just so darn pretty!