Pea and smoked ham soup

More comfort food on yet another miserable,wet day. We’ve had the idea in mind for some while and even bought the ham hock on a whim a month or two ago since when it has remained in icy storage in the freezer. This winter weather is the time to bring it out and enjoy its heart-warming qualities when matched with split peas.

This recipe from BBC Good Food combines split peas and fresh (i.e frozen) peas for a much less dense and fresher tasting soup. It makes rather a lot but then a ham hock is not a small thing so you can’t really make less and it will be a handy thing to have in the freezer for more warming lunches through the many cold days we have ahead of us this winter – or is that being too pessimistic?

serves 8

• 1kg gammon or ham hock
• 200g split peas, soaked overnight
• 2 onions, roughly chopped
• 2 carrots, roughly chopped
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 stick celery, roughly chopped
• 300g frozen peas

We give the recipe as is which says to soak the split peas overnight but we just lashed them in with the other ingredients without soaking and it was fine – we couldn’t really see that it was necessary if they are being cooked for 2 1/2 hours?

1. Put the gammon in a very large pan with 2 litres of water and bring to the boil. Remove from the heat and drain off the water – this helps to get rid of some of the saltiness. Recover with 2 litres cold water and put all the other ingredients but the frozen peas into the pan and bring to the boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 1½-2½ hrs, topping up the water as and when you need to, to a similar level it started at. As the ham cooks and softens, you can halve it if you want, so it is all submerged under the liquid. When the ham is tender enough to pull into shreds, it is ready.
2. Lift out the ham onto a chopping board, peel off and discard the skin. The easiest way to do this is with two forks which you can then use to shred the meat. Remove the bay leaves from the soup and stir in the frozen peas. Simmer for 1 min, then blend with a stick blender until smooth. Add a splash of water if it is too thick. Taste and adjust the seasoning (see note).
3. When you are ready to serve, mix the ham into the soup and gently reheat. Eat with crusty bread and butter.

Note: The recipe doesn’t mention salt or pepper nor to adjust the seasoning at the end which seems a glaring omission to us. Of course ham can be salty so don’t add any until the end, if necessary, but we certainly found it needed some plus a good grinding of black pepper.

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