Ham hock and spring vegetable broth with pickled chillies
Cooking a whole ham hock yields lots of tender meat and a savoury broth that’s a great starting point for different directions. Try adding Puy lentils, creamy beans such as butter beans or lots of leafy greens. You could also cook dried pulses with the ham itself, for example red lentils. Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days or frozen for up to 3 months.
Ingredients
Metric
Imperial
For cooking the ham
- 1 ham hock, smoked or unsmoked
- 1 onion, halved
- 1 celery stick, cut into chunks
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 bulb of garlic, cloves separated but unpeeled
- 1 carrot, cut into chunks
Pickled chilli sauce
- 2 pickled green chillies, finely chopped
- 1 handful of basil, finely chopped
- 1 handful of chives, finely chopped
- 1 tbsp of white wine vinegar
- 1 pinch of sugar
- 3 tbsp of olive oil
For finishing the broth
- oil
- 2 leeks, washed and finely sliced
- 2 carrots, peeled and finely sliced
- 150g of sugar snap peas, halved lengthwise
Method
Place the ham in a large saucepan and cover with water. Bring to the boil, then drain (this is to remove excess salt from the ham hock)
- 1 ham hock, smoked or unsmoked
Cover again with water. Add the onion, celery, bay leaves, garlic and carrots and simmer gently for 2 hours, skimming off any scum as the ham cooks
- 1 onion, halved
- 1 celery stick, cut into chunks
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 bulb of garlic, cloves separated but unpeeled
- 2 carrots, peeled and finely sliced
Combine all the ingredients for the chilli sauce together with a pinch of salt and mix well
- 2 pickled green chillies, finely chopped
- 1 handful of basil, finely chopped
- 1 handful of chives, finely chopped
- 1 tbsp of white wine vinegar
- 1 pinch of sugar
- 3 tbsp of olive oil
Take the ham hock out of the liquid and strain the stock into a bowl
Add a dash of oil to a large saucepan and cook the leeks until soft, 15-20 minutes
- oil
- 2 leeks, washed and finely sliced
Add the stock back to the pan with the sliced carrots and simmer until the carrots are cooked
- 2 carrots, peeled and finely sliced
Shred the ham from the hock and add it to the soup, along with the sugar snaps and heat until just warmed through
- 150g of sugar snap peas, halved lengthwise
Top with the chilli sauce to serve
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