Tangerine Glazed Ham and Carrots

Courtesy Food Network

This is what we ate for Easter Dinner tonight.  I had a bunch of tangerines in the fruit bowl so decided to try this recipe out.  Only I cooked it in a crock pot rather than in the oven.  It was fantastic and was loved by kids and adults alike.  

Ingredients

• 1 (8 to 10-pound) smoked ham, bone-in, skin on
• 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

Directions

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.

Put the ham in a large roasting pan, fat-side up. Using a sharp knife, score the ham with cuts across the skin, about 2-inches apart and 1/2-inch deep. Cut diagonally down the slashes to form a diamond pattern; season the meat generously with 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 there is plenty of time to bang-out the tangerine 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 should take about 30 to 40 minutes.

After the ham has being going for a couple of hours, 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.

Set the ham on a cutting board to rest before carving. Serve the carrots and tangerine glaze on the side.

Morning Muffins (From Make-A-Mix)

(Blueberry Crumb Variation pictured above)

2 1/2 cups Quick Mix (Posted below)
4 Tbsp sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 cup milk or water
Butter and honey if desired

Preheat oven to 425F
Generously butter muffin pans. Place Quick Mix in a medium bowl, add sugar, and mix well. In a bowl, combine egg and milk or water. Add all at once to dry ingredients. Stir until just blended. Fill prepared murrin pans 2/3 full. Bake 15-20 minutes, until golden brown. Serve hot with butter and honey, if desired. Makes 12 large muffins.

Variations:
Dried fruit or Nut Muffins - Add 1/2 cup chopped raisins, dates, dried berries, or fruits, or nuts to dry ingredients. Before baking, sprinkle with Crumb Topping Mix (posted below).

Blueberry Muffins - Gently fold 1 cup fresh, frozen or drained blueberries into dry ingredients. Sprinkle with Crumb Topping Mix (posted below) if desired.

Oatmeal or Bran Muffins - Reduce Quick Mix to 1 3/4 cups. Add 3/4 cup quick rolled oats or all-bran cereal to dry ingredients before adding liquid ingredients.

Apple Muffins - Fold 1 cup grated raw apple into muffin batter before putting into muffin pans and increase baking time to 20-25 minutes.

Fresh Peach Muffins - Fold 1 cup diced fresh peaches into batter before putting into muffin pans and increase baking time to 20-25 minutes.

Orange Muffins - Add 1 Tbsp fresh orange peel or 1 1/2 tsp dried orange peel to dry ingredients before adding liquid ingredients.

Cranberry Muffins - Gently fold 2/3 cup chopped cranberries into muffin batter before putting into muffin pans.

Almond Glazed Blueberry Scones

Submitted by Trish Schroeder,

(Here's my scones, adapted from Tyler Florence at Food network. The ingredients are the same, but my method of doing the blueberries is different-he stirs them in, but that just made a purple mess. He also does a lemon glaze, and we prefer almond.)

Blueberry Scones
2 c. flour
1 tbs. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tbs. sugar
5 tbs. butter (must use butter, needs to be very cold)
1 c. heavy cream
1 c. blueberries (I never measure mine, I just use as many as I think look right)

Rinse fresh or frozen blueberries in cold water and allow to drain while mixing dough. This keeps them from turning everything purple. Sift together dry ingredients. Cut in cold butter (use a pastry blender, or two forks). Make a well and pour in cream. Fold together. (I start with a rubber spatula, but end up using my hands to get it combined well.) Press or roll dough into a big rectangle on floured surface (honestly, I usually don't flour it, and I use a ceramic board) until about 1/2-3/4" thick. (Brush with cream if desired, sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. When I do, I also sometimes sprinkle just a little granulated sugar on top.) Use your knuckle or desired instrument to make little divets in the surface and poke a blueberry in each hole. Use a pizza cutter to cut into triangles. Bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes. They should just barely start to brown, but not as much as biscuits.

Almond Glaze
To make 1/2 cup of glaze, which is plenty for a full batch, I use: 1 cup powdered sugar, 1 tbs. butter, 2-3 tbs. water, and 1 1/2 tsp. almond extract. I put it all in a glass bowl, microwave for 30 seconds, and stir. Then I use a spoon to drizzle over the scones.

(The lemon glaze is on the website linked above. We've also tried orange glaze and it was good, but you just can't beat the almond.)

I've also made cinnamon raisin scones by adding about a teaspoon of ground cinnamon to the dry ingredients and stirring in raisins at the end. Obviously I then omit the blueberries. They're yummy, and we've tried both the lemon & almond glaze (almond wins again), but blueberry is still the way to go.