Pea and ham soup

Pea and ham soup in a green bowl

I thought soup weather was over but I was wrong - yesterday was rainy, windy and cold. Good thing I bought a ham hock at the weekend to make soup.

Ham hock sounds a lot posher than pork knuckle, but it's the same thing. In Poland it's called 'golonka', which is what we used to call my (half Polish) nephew when he was a baby.

I searched for soup recipes online and found ones that cooked vegetables with the ham hock for an hour, then pulled the meat off the hock to serve. Yuk! Vegetables that have been cooked for an hour!

Instead, I made a stock by cooking the veg and the ham then strained it. Amazingly, I got exactly 2 litres, so for once I can be accurate about the recipe quantities. However I forget to weigh the split peas before I soaked them, but it doesn't really matter how much you use -- it will just affect how thick you soup is. If it turns out too runny, add some red lentils to thicken, as they don't need to be pre-soaked, and only take about 15 minutes to cook. (The grated carrot will also thicken the soup slightly)

Ham hock stock 

• 1 ham hock/pork knuckle
• 2 small or 1 large carro
• 2 medium onions
• 2 sticks celery
• 8 peppercorns
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 large sprig thyme (optional)

1. Chop the vegetables roughly and add to a stock pot or large pan with the ham hock.
2. Cover with cold water.
3. Bring to the boil and simmer for about an hour.
4. Leave everything in the pan till cool, then remove the ham hock and set to one side.
5. Strain the liquor into a jug, and discard the soggy, overcooked vegetables.

Pea and ham soup ingredients

• 2 medium onions
• 2 sticks celery
• 1 small carrot
• Rapeseed or olive oil for frying
• 2 litres ham hock stock
• Meat pulled off 1 ham hock
• 300g yellow split peas
• 150g frozen peas

 How to make pea and ham soup

1. Soak the split peas in a large bowl of cold water overnight.
2. The next day, rinse well with cold water and leave to drain in a sieve over the bowl. 
3. Heat a little rapeseed oil in a large pan.
4. Finely chop 2 medium onions and 2 sticks celery.
5. Fry onions and celery in the oil until soft.
6. Grate the carrot and add to the pan.
7. Pour in the stock.
8. Add the split peas.
9. Season with pepper and bring to the boil.
10. Reduce to a simmer and continue cooking until the split peas are mushy.*
11. Check the seasoning.
12. Turn off the heat.
13. Add the frozen peas - they will cook in the residual heat from the soup.
14. Leave the soup to cool a little.
15. Liquidise in batches.
16. To serve, heat up only as much soup as you need, adding some of the ham pulled from the hock to warm through.

*The time taken for the split peas to become mushy will depend on how old they are -- if they have been sitting in the back of your cupboard for ages they could take a long time to go soft.