I have to say, with my kid getting older – miss the simple easter egg hunt. He’d be all excited & hunt out in the yard, it wasn’t much, but there was always one or two that got missed & then we’d have to scout around or we’d have a troublesome smell in a few days. Also miss dying the eggs – guess I should have done anyways, yet my laziness trumps nostalgia.

You, yes you – try to find a good ham that weights under 12lbs! The only ones that I could find were the compressed crappy turds that look like an oversized football. Thanks big agra. But, finally decided on a 9lb ham that had to be cut up some just to fit in the crock. When adding the wine & water – well, lets just say there wasn’t much room left. Somehow got the ingredients in & was able to get lid on with a bungie cord.

With the help of the leftover white wine was able to power through & get this one in before taking a fantastic motorcycle ride out to some waterfalls & some Eagles club awkwardness. (I’m not suggesting drinking white wine before motorcycling – that would get your ass kicked @ a Harley rally)

Ingredients:

• 2 gran smith apples – sliced kinda thin (with skin)
• 3 cloves garlic diced
• 8 sprigs thyme
• 3/4 bunch parsley chopped
• 2 tablespoon pickling spice
• 4-5 lb bone in ham (um, if you can find one)
• 4 turnips – peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces
• 2 cups dry white wine (fume)
• 1 cup water

Make it happen:

• Put the ham in crock then top with the apples, garlic, thyme, parsley & pickling spice
• Pour in the wine and 1 cup water
• After 2hrs add the turnips (that way they don’t turn to mush)
• Cover and cook on low – 8hrs

Weee – who wants some gravy? Me thats who:

• Pull about 1 cup of wine/water broth out, put in sauce pan & bring to slight boil
• Put few tablespoons of flour in mixing cup & add enough water to make paste, spoon into sauce pan
• Mix until the gravy thickens then pour over them taters

The two guests & I barely made a dent in the massive ham, but made a good dent in the Rose / red wine. And everyone was able to take home some leftovers.

My grandma(s) could bake a good ham (pour a 40oz out or some ham drippings), but this swine slab just fell apart. Could barely get large chunks of the meat out w/o it completely falling apart. Hand to God, once you’ve gone crock ham, you’ll never go back (to baked ham that is). The turnips were really delicious too. Rarely buy/eat them, but cooking them down in the apples/wine created a super taste.

Other 2 cents – skip the brown sugar / pineapple, that is for pussies. Just let the ham be all it can be, amazingly salty good. The apples added just the right amount of sweet/sour to the meat.

Coerced into finishing off  the meal with strawberry rhubarb w/ rosemary over vanilla ice cream (thanks to Josephine).

Good day to you Easter, I said good day…