I was totally flying by the seat of my pants when I came up with this idea. Lucky for me, it actually worked and we didn’t have to order pizza or Chinese.
The lovely twist this dish has is that the oranges are absolutely delicious as a side dish, not to mention the pan drippings make a tasty sauce.
So you get three dishes in one — you can’t beat that!
Orange Maple Spiced Ham
• 1 – 4-lb ham
• 4 – oranges
• 1 – 3-in cinnamon stick, broken in half lengthwise
• ¾ cup – Voisin’s Pure Canadian maple syrup — or the best quality maple syrup that you can find.
• 1 – tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 – tsp ground allspice
• ¼ tsp – ground cloves
• Pinch of nutmeg
Preheat oven to 350ºF. Score the top of the ham and set aside.
Slice the ends off the oranges and slice three of them into ¾-in slices.
Place these slices in the bottom of a 9-in x 9-in casserole dish.
Place the cinnamon sticks on top of the oranges and then the scored ham on top of the oranges and cinnamon sticks.
Slice the last orange into ¼-in. slices and skewer to the top of the ham with toothpicks.
Place the whole works in your preheated oven and cook for 40 to 50 minutes.
Once the ham has cooked 20 minutes, place the syrup and spices in a small pot. Bring to a simmer and reduce by half, this will take about 20 minutes.
Remove the ham from the oven and remove the oranges from the top only.
Pour the syrup mixture over the top and place back in the oven for another 10 to 15 minutes or until the internal temperature is 140ºF.
Remove from the oven and baste with the syrup mixture that is in the bottom of the casserole dish.
Thickly slice and serve with some of the pan drippings and a slice of the roasted orange.
