A Feast of Fridays: Zesty Pineapple Ham

Zesty Pineapple Ham is an excellent family dinner entree, and an equally excellent company dinner entree.

We had this delicious dish for Easter Dinner last year; there is just something “warm weather-ish” about baked ham.

Ingredients:

1 two-pound fully-cooked ham center

1 can of pineapple chunks, drained (save the juice)  (8 1/4 oz. size can)

1 tablespoon whole cloves

4 teaspoons cornstarch

1/4 cup packed brown sugar, dark or light

2 tablespoons rum

1 tablespoon honey

1/2 cup Pineapple Habanero Pepper Jelly

What to do:

Slash the top of the ham and place it on a rack in a shallow baking pan. Bake for a half hour, at 350.  Remove from oven.

In a large saucepan, mix together everything except the cloves.  (Don’t forget to add the pineapple juice!)  Bring to a boil and immediately reduce heat and simmer for five minutes.  Stir until the mixture thickens.

Spread over the ham and return it to the oven; bake for about fifteen more minutes.  Remove from oven, and spoon any “pooled-up” mixture or fallen pineapple chunks over the ham again.  Stud the ham with the cloves, put ham back in the oven for five minutes. Remove the ham, remove the cloves.

Serve hot.

If there is any ham left over, which I doubt, it will make a spectacularly tasty sandwich, hot or cold.

Mmmm, Zesty Pineapple Ham.