When the temps get this cool my culinary creations lean towards long, slow cooking in the oven (it helps to warm the kitchen) or to soups and stocks for the freezer. Just in time for the cold weather my oven finally died, well not completely, but if it was a person you would certainly be calling your local religious person of choice. In keeping with this religious/spiritual theme there is a hallelujah moment today! The new oven arrived 10 minutes ago and it will be installed at midday by my very own saviours, Bob and his mate.
So, as a send off of sorts to the old oven (it actually was rubbish and I am delighted to see the back end of it) I will tell you of an epiphany I had a couple of weeks ago when, in the depths of despair, I pulled out a container of pea and ham soup mid morning.
I know everyone thinks they have the best pea and ham soup in their repertoire but unless you have the best ingredients and are prepared to put a bit of time into it I do know this not to be the case at all! If all you use are some bacon bones then you will end up with pea and bacon bones soup. If you use a mass produced, shrink wrapped by 'Colesworth' ham hock then you are skating on very thin Canberra ice. You could strike it lucky but why go to all the bother and end up with an inferior soup.
Just as important as a tasteless ham is one that is too salty. This is another reason to be on good terms with your butcher, or deli person. Get to know your ham hock and you won't have to go to all the palaver of bringing the ham hock to the boil and then starting again having thrown out all the salty water. I have found that sometimes it will still be way to heavy in the salt department.
I have a butcher (ooh that is also a bit spiritual) who does pig really, really well. It is my experience that all butchers have a specialty. My butcher at Florey Fine Meats, Craig, smokes his own hams and also smokes big, generous pork hocks. Anything he does with pig is great.
I often buy a hock just to cook up in a pot as a meal on its own. I just cover it with water, add the usual onion, carrot and celery suspects and simmer till nearly falling off the bone. If you add some potatoes and fresh carrots towards the end you only have to add something green (I like a wedge of cabbage or brussels sprouts) and some hot mustard and you have heaven. I imagine slow cookers and pressure cookers could do this too. There is an added advantage here. Once the hock is removed and the veg are taken out, you are left with a good ham stock that can be reduced down and frozen. I am never without ham stock in the freezer. Not only can it be used to pep up that supermarket ham hock you had to buy because nothing else was available, but ham stock is great to give good flavour to any beans or pulses. Many soups can be given a ham boost with this stock. Ordinary potato soup which is nothing more than butter, onions and potatoes is great made with ham stock.
So, once you have your ham hock (or two, as I often make a cauldron of pea and ham soup so that I have heaps for the freezer) the next most important ingredient is the pea factor. I do not recommend yellow split peas at all. It is green dried split peas for me. I either use the Mckenzies brand or I get them from Natural Living at Belconnen Fresh Food Markets. The green ones are so much sweeter and taste like peas! Any pre-soaking of the peas will of course reduce the cooking time but I find that if I sit the peas in a bowl of water while I prepare the ham hock and vegetables for the pot the peas can go in at the same time and by the time the hock is done the peas will have collapsed. If you are organized and soak them for a few hours or use the quick method on the back of the packet then give yourself a pat on the back. For one ham hock I allow the full packet of split peas (500g). If I am making a cauldron, and use two hocks, I will usually go for 750g but I have been known to use 1kg. It all depends on the size of your cauldron! The following recipe will be using just one big fat ham hock.
Ingredients
1 large ham hock
500g rinsed green split peas, soaked (optional soaking)
1 large onion, peeled
2 onions diced
1 large carrot, peeled
2-3 carrots, peeled and chopped into chunk
1 stick celery, cut into 3 or 4 pieces
3 sticks celery, cut in 1cm slices
2 or 3 potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
Parsley to garnish
Method
Put the ham hock in a stockpot with the whole onion, the peeled carrot and the celery stick pieces. Bring slowly up to boil and then turn down to keep it at a simmer. Drain the split peas and put them into the pot.
I skim the impurities as they come to the top but don't be too fussy about it. Cover the pot but leave a bit of a gap to keep an eye on things! Depending on the hock size count on a couple of hours for it to be cooked.
Once it is coming close take the hock out of the pot. Remove vegetables from the pot and discard. Put in all the chopped vegetables and bring back to the simmer. I like the ham left in good bite size pieces so cut the rind off the hock and shred or chop the ham and replace in the pot. Once the vegetables are tender you are there! Sprinkle with parsley and enjoy.
Ok, so where is the epiphany? Let's go back to the mid-morning retrieval of the soup from the freezer. While I was reheating the soup I decided I really felt like a boiled egg. And the rest as they say is history.
Postscript - The new oven is installed and the old is awaiting collection. The oven is dead, long live the oven.
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