Holiday Ham & Rosé

In my family, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter are often celebrated with a honey glazed ham. Of course, turkey is a favorite for Thanksgiving, but my favorite entrée for the holiday season is ham. With its sweet-and-salty richness, a holiday ham pairs best with wines that have just a slight hint of sweetness, a bit of acidity, and robust fruit flavors. I say Rosé!

Ham and Rosé wines are a perfect match with all those classic flavors of strawberry, cherry, citrus and floral. Plus, Rosé wines coordinate well for, not only ham, but pumpkin pie, and anything else you might want to devour this holiday season.

The ideal thing about ham is two-fold, you can add variety to your Thanksgiving table by adding a ham with a big turkey, or keep your dinner simple with just a small ham. If you’re like me, this year I’m trying hard to keep my holiday dinner easy, quick and simple. Honestly, in my world, there is no need to have the huge amounts of side dishes and desserts. If this is your case too, then you can never go wrong with a small ham. Ham is also a great choice for smaller families who can’t manage a massive turkey, and don’t want all the crazy leftovers.

The wonderful thing about ham is that they already come pre-cooked, all you have to do is prep the glaze, add some fresh pineapple slices, maraschino cherries, and bake. Pretty easy, quick, and simple. There are also options of a spiral cut ham, however, I love a whole ham, because I like to cut my own thicker slices. I also find that thinner cut spiral hams have the tendency to dry out a little bit during the baking-time.

Over the years, I have found just how challenging it is to cook a turkey. The days of pre-prepping a Turkey with brine, then all the time involved with basting during bake-time. I’ve decided this year it’s ham, pumpkin pie and just a Rosé wine. Maybe, I’ll squeeze in a few side dishes?1?