Split Pea and Ham Hock Soup with Gruyere and Mozzarella Toasties
Now if your like me split pea and ham hock is on the top of my list of soups. But what really takes it to the next level is the toasties. Im going to keep this short and sweet cause i dont believe in rambling on for 50 paragraphs before you get to the recipe.
If you find rocket too peppery use spinach if you dont like onion use celery and if you dont want the stock to become too strong on the hock flavour dont throw the bone back into the stock. Also use any cheese you can find it really doesn’t matter and slather your bread with mustard its worth it! It’s also worth trying it with seeded mustard. As always give this one a go and i promise a winner grinner mean green ham hock dinner!
Split Pea and Ham Hock Soup with Gruyere and Mozzarella Toasties
Ingredients
Approx. 3hrs
20 gm butter, coarsely chopped
2 small onions, finely chopped
1 white carrot, finely chopped (orange is fine)
1 fennel bulb, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 ham hock (about 1.2kg)
3ltr cold water
500 gm dried green split peas
380 gm frozen baby green peas
1 cup rocket
½ cup mint, plus extra to serve
½ cup flat-leaf parsley
Finely grated rind and juice of ½ lemon
Gruyere and Mozzarella Toasties
Softened butter
8 slices soft white bread
Dijon mustard, to taste
30 gm coarsely grated Comte Gruyere
30 gm sliced thin mozzarella
Sea salt and Freshly ground white pepper
Method:
Heat butter in a large saucepan over low-medium heat. Add onion, fennel, carrot and garlic and sauté until soft about 8mins. Add the ham hock, cover with the cold water bring to a simmer, then reduce heat to low, cook until ham is falling from the bone 1-1½ hrs. Remove hock, cool, then discard skin keeping the bone aside. Shred meat and reserve.
Meanwhile, add split peas and the bone back to the stock and simmer for 45 minutes to 1 hr until soft stirring regularly so the peas don’t stick to the bottom of the saucepan. Remove the bone and discard.
Add baby peas and simmer for 1-2 minutes. Stir in the rocket, parsley and mint for 30 seconds, turn off the heat and purée in a blender until smooth (you may need to do this in batches or use a hand-held blender) Stir in lemon rind and juice, season to taste and keep warm.
For the Toasties, spread butter on the bread slices, then place half the slices butter-side down on a work surface lined with cling wrap. Spread with mustard as much or as little as you like, top with cheeses. Season with lots of fresh white pepper and sandwich with remaining bread butter-side up. Toast in a non-stick pan on a medium high heat with a small knob of butter and oil until golden brown 3-4 mins then finish with more gruyere cheese grated over the top.
Warm the soup gently and season with salt and pepper being careful as some hocks can be fairly salty I like to finish with white pepper and a small pinch of salt. Scatter soup with warm shredded hock and extra torn mint and serve hot with Toasties.
