Recipe: A Half-Leg Glazed Christmas Ham by Ella Mittas (Trust Us, You’ll Want Leftovers)

Seafood platters and salads often dominate the Australian Christmas table, suited to the warm weather. But for Melbourne cook Ella Mittas, another festive main has become her seasonal favourite: a half-leg glazed ham.

“It’s ornate, but it keeps well, and you can eat it for days afterwards,” she says. “You can serve it at room temperature. I just think it looks really beautiful.”

Coming from a Greek household, Mittas grew up with spit-roast lamb and plenty of meze for Christmas lunch. It wasn’t until she spent a few years in the UK that she discovered the charm of a proper glazed ham.

“I lived in the UK for a while, and it was my first winter Christmas,” she recalls. “I went to a good friend’s family Christmas long lunch that rolled into dinner. We had eggnog; we had Christmas pudding; we had a whole glazed ham. I’d never really seen any of the very traditional foods be served [before].”

The version she first encountered was coated in marmalade – a common British touch that she’s since adapted with a few local twists. Mittas bases her glaze on apricot jam and bakes the ham in a mix of orange and mandarin juice for added brightness, creating something that feels both nostalgic and distinctly Australian.

“It’s good to use a bit of jam or preserve because it helps with the consistency so that it sticks on,” she says.

Of course, the success of the dish all rests on the ham itself – get yourself a Festive Selection Australian half-leg ham – or any kind, really – from ALDI, which offers different hams to suit all tastes and price points.

If you’re lucky enough to have leftovers, she suggests stuffing them into a sourdough toastie with aged comté and Dijon mustard.

Ella Mittas’s glazed Christmas ham

Serves 10–12
Preparation time: 30 minutes (plus resting)
Cooking time: 1.5–2 hours

Ingredients

1 Festive Selection Australian half-leg ham (about 5kg)
1 cup mixed mandarin and orange juice
1 cup water

Glaze
1 cup Grandessa apricot jam
¾ cup While Mill brown sugar
4 tbsp Colway Dijon mustard
¾ tsp Stonemill ground cinnamon

Method

Take the ham out of the fridge 1 hour before cooking. Preheat the oven to 160°C. Gently remove the skin of the ham, then score the fat lightly in a criss-cross pattern.

Place the glaze ingredients in a bowl and mix well.

Place the ham in a roasting tray filled with the fruit juice and water. Spread half the glaze mixture over the ham, then bake for 1.5 to 2 hours, basting the ham with both the leftover glaze and juices from the pan every 20 minutes or so until the ham is golden brown. Rest before serving.

This article is produced by Broadsheet in partnership with ALDI.