Tag: ham

• 

  Ham Hock And Cabbage Soup Pressure Cooker

  I recently posted a slow cooker version of this ham and cabbage soup. It takes about 6 hours but it is well worth the wait. 

  If you don’t have that long or like me you have gone a bit ‘pressure cooker mad’, you might want to try this version. Once the cooker is up to pressure it takes just 20 minutes.

  

  Steps

  1. Preparing the vegetables
  2. Pressure cooking (20 mins)
  3. Pulling the ham
  4. Serving

  Equipment

  • 1 chefs knife
  • 1 vegetable peeler
  • 1 pressure cooker

  Ingredients

  • 1 ham hock
  • 1 brown onion, diced
  • 1 carrot, sliced
  • 3 celery stalks, diced
  • A handful of celery leaves, torn
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 medium cabbage, chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves, finely minced
  • 1 litre chicken or vegetable stock (or less if your pressure cooker is smaller)
  • Salt and pepper, to taste

  Preparing the vegetables

  This is always the fun bit for me. 🙂

  Prepare the following ingredients and add them to the pressure cooker: 

  • 1 brown onion
  • 1 carrot
  • 3 celery stalks
  • A handful of celery leaves
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 medium cabbage
  • 2 garlic cloves

  Just look at the colours:

  

  

  Add the 1 litre chicken or vegetable stock and pop the ham hock on top.

  Note: check your pressure cooker can handle that much liquid. 

  

  Pressure cooking (~20 mins)

  Put on the lid and set your pressure cooker to 20 minutes. Let the pressure dissipate passively if you have the time.

  

  Pulling the ham

  By now the meat should be falling off the bone. Pull the whole hock out in one go, if you can, to avoid losing any small bits of bone in the soup.

  Pull and chop the ham and add it back to the soup. Mix everything gently then add pepper and salt to taste.

  

  Serving

  Serve piping hot with garnish of choice and perhaps some crusty bread.

  

  This soup freezes well and I take it to work for the perfect snack or lunch.

  Enjoy,

  PK

  Here are a few soup posts and I thought you might like to see a few pork posts too. 

  Written by

  PK

  ·

  September 14, 2019

• 

  Ham Hock And Cabbage Soup Slow Cooker

  I love a ham hock soup and growing up, Pea And Ham Soup was a regular treat.

  Did you know you can make a mean ham soup using cabbage instead of split peas? I have been making it this winter and wanted to share the recipe with you. 

  I have a pressure cooker variant but here I present the slow cooker version that you can start in the morning for dinner (6 to 8 hrs on low).  

  

  Steps

  1. Preparing the vegetables
  2. Slow cooking (~6hrs)
  3. Pulling the ham
  4. Serving

  Equipment

  • 1 chefs knife
  • 1 vegetable peeler
  • 1 slow cooker

  Ingredients

  • 1 ham hock
  • 1 brown onion, diced
  • 1 carrot, sliced
  • 3 celery stalks, diced
  • A handful of celery leaves, torn
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 medium cabbage, chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves, finely minced
  • 1 litre chicken or vegetable stock
  • Salt and pepper, to taste

  Preparing the vegetables

  This is always the fun bit for me. 🙂

  Prepare the following ingredients and add them to the slowcooker: 

  • 1 brown onion
  • 1 carrot
  • 3 celery stalks
  • A handful of celery leaves
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 medium cabbage
  • 2 garlic cloves

  Add the 1 litre chicken or vegetable stock and pop the ham hock on top.

  

  Slow cooking (~6hrs)

  Put on the lid and then cook on low for 6 to 8 hours.

  

  Pulling the ham

  By now the meat should be falling off the bone. Pull the whole hock out in one go, if you can, to avoid losing any small bits of bone in the soup.

  Pull and chop the ham and add it back to the soup. Mix everything gently then add pepper and salt to taste.

  

  Serving

  Serve piping hot with garnish of choice and perhaps some crusty bread.

  

  This soup freezes well and I take it to work for the perfect snack or lunch.

  Enjoy,

  PK

  Here are a few soup posts and I thought you might like to see a few pork posts too. 

  Written by

  PK

  ·

  September 1, 2019

• 

  PK’s Pea And Ham Hock Soup

  Talk about nostalgia. My mum used to make this for me as a kid and it brings back happy memories every time. I think I might have done my mum proud with my recipe and stayed true to the dish’s thriftiness to boot :). It also freezes well so I got a whole week’s worth of lunches.

  You don’t have to cook pea and ham soup in a slow cooker but it is worth the low and slow cook for the extra depth of taste you will get. I will also leave the decision to blend or leave the soup chunky up to you. I did a halfway option, blended soup with some of the ham left chunky.

  You will be:

  1. Preparing your ingredients
  2. Cooking low and slow
  3. Removing the bones
  4. Blending or not
  5. Serving.

  You will need:

  • Ingredients:
    • 1.5 cups dried yellow split peas
    • 2 celery sticks, rough chopped
    • 2 carrots, rough chopped
    • 1 brown onion, rough chopped
    • 1 bay leaf
    • 1 ham hock (mine was ~850g)
    • 10 cups water
  •  Equipment:
    • a long sharp knife
    • a chopping board
    • a slow cooker
    • a pair of kitchen tongs
    • a wooden spoon
    • a stick mixer

  Preparing your ingredients

  1. Thoroughly rinse the split peas under cold water until it runs clear.
  2. Place them at the bottom of your slow cooker, turn this on to low.
  3. Chop the:
     • 2 celery sticks
     • 2 carrots
     • 1 brown onion
  4. Add them on top of the layer of split peas.
  5. Add the bay leaf.
  6. Add the ham hock after giving it a quick rinse.
  7. Add 10 cups of water and cover.

  

  

  

  

  

  Cooking low and slow

  Cook for about 6 to 8 hours (more if the meat is not falling off the bone) turning the hock over every now and again.

  

  Removing the bones

  Remove the main bones and then look carefully for any other little bones. This is important if you are going to blend the soup. You can use the bones to make Bone Meal for your garden.

  

  Blending or not

  Blend the soup now if you want to. I did but I kept some of the ham hock whole for serving purposes.

  Serving

  Some crusty bread and cracked black pepper would go a treat :).

  

  Enjoy,

  PK

  Related Links:

  • see more soup post here
  • see more slow cooker posts here
  • see more pork posts here

  Written by

  PK

  ·

  September 7, 2017

• 

  KT’s NoFuss Mini Quiches

  Thankfully these are as easy to make as they are to eat. In our house they have a habit of disappearing when my wife isn’t looking :).

  I didn’t even get to take a photo of the finished products cooling on the racks.

  Oh wait here is one from last time she made them:

  

  You will be:

  1. Preparing the filling.
  2. Cutting and pressing puff pastry into baking tins to make the bases.
  3. Spooning the mixture to bases and cooking.

  You will need:

  • Ingredients:
    • 2 sheets of puff pastry
    • 125g cheddar cheese, grated (use your favourite hard cheese)
    • 125g ham slices, finely chopped
    • 3 Tbsp heavy cream (whipping cream)
    • 0.5 Tbsp whole grain mustard
    • 1 egg
    • ground black peppercorns to taste
    • ground rock salt to taste (I don’t use any as the cheese and bacon are salty enough)
  •   Equipment
    • a chopping board
    • a long sharp knife
    • a mixing bowl
    • 7cm diameter biscuit cutter
    • 2 shallow mini pie/bun trays (12 depressions per tray)

  Steps:

  Prepare the filling

  1. In a mixing bowl add the:
     • 125g grated cheddar cheese
     • 125g finely chopped ham
     • 3 Tbsp heavy cream
     • 0.5 Tbsp whole grain mustard
     • 1 egg
     • ground black peppercorns to taste
  2. Mix everything thoroughly but gently.

  

  Cutting and pressing puff pastry into baking tins to make the bases

  1. Lay the sheets of puff pastry out.
  2. Cut 24 circles out of them using the cookie cutter and press these into the trays.

  

  Spooning the mixture to bases and cooking

  1. Spoon a small amount of the filling into each base.
  2. Cook for 15 minutes at 200°C in a fan forced oven.

  Eat them hot or freeze them. Personally I like them cold and think they make a great lunch box snack.

  If they last that long :).

  Enjoy,

  PK

   

   

   

   

  Written by

  PK

  ·

  November 21, 2016

• 

  KT’s Easy Mini Quiches

  Thankfully these are as easy to make as they are to eat. In our house, they have a habit of disappearing when my wife isn’t looking :).

  I didn’t even get to take a photo of the finished products cooling on the racks.

  

  You will be:

  1. Preparing the filling.
  2. Cutting and pressing puff pastry into baking tins to make the bases.
  3. Spooning the mixture to bases and cooking.

  You will need:

  • Ingredients:
    • 2 sheets of puff pastry
    • 125g cheddar cheese, grated (use your favourite hard cheese)
    • 125g ham slices, finely chopped
    • 3 Tbsp heavy cream (whipping cream)
    • 0.5 Tbsp whole grain mustard
    • 1 egg
    • ground black peppercorns to taste
    • ground rock salt to taste (I don’t use any as the cheese and bacon are salty enough)
  •   Equipment
    • a chopping board
    • a long sharp knife
    • a mixing bowl
    • 7cm diameter biscuit cutter
    • 2 shallow mini pie/bun trays (12 depressions per tray)

  Steps:

  Prepare the filling

  1. In a mixing bowl add the:
     • 125g grated cheddar cheese
     • 125g finely chopped ham
     • 3 Tbsp heavy cream
     • 0.5 Tbsp whole grain mustard
     • 1 egg
     • ground black peppercorns to taste
  2. Mix everything thoroughly but gently.

  

  Cutting and pressing puff pastry into baking tins to make the bases

  1. Lay the sheets of puff pastry out.
  2. Cut 24 circles out of them using the cookie cutter.
  3. Press the circles gently into the trays.

  

  Spooning the mixture to bases and cooking

  1. Spoon a small amount of the filling into each base.
  2. Cook for 15 minutes at 200°C in a fan forced oven.

  Serving

  Eat them hot or freeze them. Personally I like them cold and think they make a great lunch box snack.

  If they last that long :).

  Enjoy,

  PK for  KT

  Here are some more egg dishes and posts by KT:

  Written by

  PK

  ·

  November 21, 2016