Roasted ham & baked apples

The Witcher - Netflix TV series - episode 4, Cintra's Castle

honey/mustard/dark beer glazed ham with nigella seeds and caraway + buttery baked apples

Cintra’s castle feasts are always expected to be the ones that cannot be quickly forgotten. Exquisite meats with heavy focus on roasted pork, platters full of fresh fruits, mugs filled with beer, chalices with expensive wines, freshly baked bread - all accompanied by bard’s music and cheerful chats of invited guests. Gourmet dishes need some sophisticated preparation so they can provide some unusual experience for the feast participants. It’s no other with this roasted ham - honey-mustard marinade takes care of sweet&spicy flavour, baking with beer gives a bitter, smoky touch, while caraway, cloves and nigella seeds complement the experience by providing full-bodied spicy finish.

Tender, juicy slices of roasted ham with company sour, baked apples are the beloved treat even for the high nobility. Too bad sometimes the feast ends up as a turbulent event in which all the food suddenly ends on the floor...

THE RECIPE WAS DESIGNED IN COLLABORATION WITH NETFLIX FOOD!

SERVING: 8 portions

1. MEAT
Wash ham under running water, dry with paper towel. If ham has skin, cut it slightly on top into checkered pattern.

2. MARINADE
Mix marinade ingredients (crush garlic). Coat ham in the spices mix and transfer to a pot, cover and put in the fridge for 12-24h.

3. PRE-FRYING
Put out marinated ham from the fridge 30 minutes before frying. Take off the marinade and transfer it to a heatproof dish. Then fry meat on a pan, on each side for 2 minutes, on a very high heat. Put pre-fried ham in the heatproof dish.

4. DEGLAZING WITH BEER
Pour beer into the pan to deglaze it, bring to a boil and transfer to the dish with ham.

5. PRE-BAKING
Put the dish in preheated oven (220°C/430°F) and bake for 10 minutes, uncovered.

6. BAKING
Reduce the temp to 130°C/250°F and bake for about 2h, covered, until soft. Baste it with baking sauces from time to time. Add 1-2 tsp of salt after 1 h of baking.

7. APPLES
Wash apples, cut them through in 2/3 of height, remove cores and cover again with their tops.

8. BAKING APPLES
Coat apples in soft butter and transfer to oven on the baking tray, near dish with ham for the last 30 minutes of baking.

9. END OF BAKING
10 minutes before the end of baking, pour out the baking sauces from dish to the pan. Increase the temperature to 180°C/350°F, remove the lid and bake ham for about 10 minutes.

10. SAUCE
Add 2 tbsp of honey to baking sauces on a pan, stir and simmer until thick sauce is obtained.

11. SERVING
Take out the ham and apples from the oven and set aside for 5 minutes.  Then slice ham, pour the sauce and serve with hot baked apples.