Ham Hock and Summer Vegetable Minestrone

Have a look in your fridge - loads of little odds and sods of veg?     You are sure to also have a small crumpled bag of pasta (mostly broken) with too little remaining to make a meal.    So many Italian classic dishes were created during times of poverty to use up these bits and pieces that would otherwise go to waste.   Papa pomodoro soup, panzanella salad, orecchiette with cima de rape (broccoli tops) to name but a few, today it is minestrone.

I do feel like I am always banging on about how to spend as little as possible on food.   Don't take this the wrong way and begin believing that cheap = good.   As a chef I believe that you should buy the best quality ingredients and using good technique and a bit of knowledge, stretch these to yield an end result that is tasty and imaginative but just happens to cost very little per person.

Ham hock is the star here.   Buy a good unsmoked one (called 'green') and it won't be too salty, preferably from a rare breed pig.   Cooking the hock yields the soup stock and after a little effort picking the meat from the bones you should have enough ham to feed four with a little left over for sandwiches.   Oh and mine cost £2.   

Ingredients:

Carrots - 2

Leek - 1

Celery - 4 sticks

Onion - 1

Black Pepper Corns - 10

Bay Leaf - 2

Rosemary and Thyme - 1 large sprig of each

Ham Hock - 1

Mixed vegetables - 4 large handfuls (I used courgette, carrot, leek, savoy cabbage and peas)

Broken up pasta, any shape will do - 1 large handful, approx 80g

Fresh Basil - 1 small bunch

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Salt and Pepper

Method:

Roughly chop the carrots, onion, celery and leek and chuck in the biggest pot you have with the bay, herbs, peppercorns and ham hock.   Cover with water and bring to the boil then reduce to a simmer.   Skim any scum and allow to gently simmer (covered) for 2 to 3 hours.   The hock is cooked when you can easily pull the small bone out of the meat.   Remove the ham hock and allow to cool.   Strain the stock and discard the vegetables (they have done their work).

Chop your vegetables for the soup - make sure you cut the hard vegetables smaller than the softer ones e.g. carrots so they all cook at the same time.   Bring the stock back to the boil and add your pasta and cook for a few minutes.   Add the vegetables to continue to simmer.   While the vegetables are cooking, pick the ham hock discarding the bones, fat, skin and any sinews.    Shred into long strands but not too fine and toss most back into the soup to warm through (save a bit for a sneeky sandwich later).   When the pasta and veg are cooked, check the seasoning and then ladle into big bowls making sure everyone has some meat.    Finish with torn basil and a generous drizzle with olive oil.

Welsh Cakes

I am ashamed to say that even though I have travelled the World extensively, up until a couple of years ago I had never visited Wales. My introduction to Welsh cakes was in Argentina of all places where small Welsh communities colonised in the 1850s.    Welsh traditions such as tea shops and choirs remain popular and make a strange sight alongside the more carnivorous Argentine grill houses and the flat grassy backdrop of the Pampas.  Here is a recipe for Welsh drop scones that is really quick to make.   With a bit of practice you can knock these out in 15 mins or so – good for impressing the bird or the mother in law if your days of freedom are over. Makes approx. 16 scones:

Ingredients:

225 g self raising flour

110g salted butter

1 organic egg, beaten

70g golden granulated sugar

a little milk

1 large handful of sultanas

Method:

Rub the butter into the flour until you have the appearance of breadcrumbs or use a food processor.   Add the sugar and egg then mix to a smooth paste.   Add a little milk if the mixture is too dry, the paste should form into a ball when squeezed together but should not be sticky.   Mix in the sultanas.

On a floured work surface, roll out the dough to approx 5mm thick and start cutting out the scones using a 10cm cutter or a knife if you don’t have one.   Keep rolling the leftover dough back into a ball and re-rolling and cutting until you have used up all the dough.

Put a non-stick pan on the heat and cook the scones for approx 2 to 3 mins on each side over a medium heat.   If you have a good non-stick pan you won’t need any butter or oil.   The scones are cooked once they are golden brown - sprinkle with more sugar while still hot.   I’m not sure if it is the ‘done thing’ in Wales (or Argentina) but I like to serve these hot with a high quality raspberry jam such as ‘bon maman’ and clotted cream.   

Three Easy Middle-Eastern Dips

I was at a drinks party some time back and the host pulled out one of those pre-packed multi-dip selection packs that every well known supermarket has on offer these days; and it was served with a packet of gourmet crisps.   Everyone pounced on it like a pack of slavering wolves and whilst it was nice enough and soaked up the beer, they just looked deeply depressing with their insipid colour all shades of plaster of paris.    They were also heavily laden with cheap oils and fats - I felt a bit queasy after eating (although it could have been the Stella).    Check out the colours of the dips above as all are fresh, healthy and two of the three are virtually fat free.    I won't lie, they take more effort to make than pulling the film off a packet but you need to think scalability.   It is as easy to make a gallon of these dips as it is to make 200ml.   Serve dips with crudites and toasted pita bread.

Beetroot, Cumin and Feta

Boil a bunch of trimmed but unpeeled beetroot until very tender and allow to cool.   Peel by rubbing off the skins, blitz in a food processor and season with salt and pepper.   Put the puree in a sieve over a bowl and allow to stand in the fridge overnight to drain excess liquid from the beetroot (you can mix the juice with tomato juice and tabasco for a great virgin mary).   Next day push the puree through the sieve to remove lumps and mix with a large pinch of ground cumin, a spoonful of greek yoghurt and a splash of red wine vinegar.   Correct the seasoning to your taste and plate topped with crumbled feta. 

Carrot, Rosewater, Honey and Coriander

Boil 4 large carrots - skin on - in water until very tender.   Take off the tops of the carrots but leaving the skin on, blitz in a food processor with a few drops of rosewater, a spoonful of honey, salt and pepper.   Pass through a sieve to remove lumps, correct seasoning and serve topped with chopped fresh coriander.

Superior Hummus

Drain a tin of quality chickpeas keeping the juice.    Set aside a small spoonful of chickpeas and blitz the rest in a food processor with the following:

2 fat cloves of peeled garlic (no need to chop, just lob them in)

a large pinch of ground cumin & smoked paprika

1 tsp ground coriander

juice of 1 lemon

1 tbsp tahini paste

50ml olive oil

salt and pepper.    

With the blades still running add a little of the reserved chickpea water to get the right consistency (come on - you know what it looks like.....use your common sense!!).   Stop the machine and taste, correct the seasoning to your palate with more salt, pepper and lemon.    Plate, sprinkle with more smoked paprika, the reserved chickpeas and drizzle with olive oil.