There’s nothing more delicious on a cool winter’s night than a bowl full of warming soup! Served with crusty bread, a soup that has all the veggies and protein you need warms you up. The trick to making a delicious soup?
Sourcing the best stock you can or making your own- it really makes a difference. Why use a ham hock for soup? Incredibly, ham hocks are really meaty and they add a great flavour to soups, without too much effort on your part. Having been smoked, they have a delicious smokiness about them that imparts flavour across the whole soup and helps to take your soup from ordinary to extraordinary. Don’t confuse them for ham bones though, as they are much less meaty! It’s worthwhile getting your hock from a butcher.
One of the reasons soup is such an awesome family food for winter is that it is relatively cheap to make. Bulking soup up with soup mix and using a hock means that you can make a large volume at once and freeze for easy defrosting on nights when you don’t have time to cook something yummy from scratch. For me the best time to cook soup is on a Sunday night. We don’t necessarily eat it then, more often than not we eat it on the Monday, but it’s done, some is frozen and a portion is set aside for the next night for dinner. We make this in a stock pot as you can fit more in and it means you are cooking once, eating twice! I love this stock pot from Le Creuset as it retains the heat very well and the domed lid means that it forces the moisture back into the soup, meaning it won’t dry out during cooking. Having soup in the freezer is a super thing for as I work from home. It forces me to eat healthier because it’s there rather than going out for lunch or purchasing other options. Loading this up with veggies also means you’re getting your 5 a day in easily!
This recipe was made using the Le Creuset Enamelled Steel Stock Pot in Cerise Red. Featuring a heavy carbon steel construction with beautiful and bright enamelled finish, it is suitable for all hob types including induction. As mentioned, the tight fitting lid will retain moisture when cooking and seal in flavours, while the large 7.6 litre capacity means it is capable to make more than enough to feed a family (and save some left overs!). It's also refrigerator safe, so no need to transfer to tupperware. The enamel finish gives it a stunning presence in the kitchen and being vitreous, it won't stain and cleans with incredible ease.
Ham hock and veggie soup in Le Creuset Stock Pot
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- 1 ham hock (approx. 1 kg)
- dash of olive oil
- 1 onion, diced
- 3 carrots, chopped
- 2 cups soup mix
- 2 litres chicken stock
- 1 celery stalk, chopped
- 1 stalk parsley
- 100grams mushrooms chopped
- 3 handfuls baby spinach
Method: Place the ham hock in the bottom of your stockpot with a dash of olive oil Fry on all sides for 1 minute per side. Add the onion to the pot and stir quickly. Add the carrots, soup mix, stock, celery, and parsley to the pot and bring to the boil. Make sure the stock is covering the ham hock. If it isn’t add some water. Cook for 2 hours at a simmer. Remove the hock from the pot and allow to cool for a few minutes. Using two forks, shred the meat from the hock. Add the mushrooms, baby spinach and the ham meat into the pot and simmer until the spinach has wilted and the mushrooms have softened.
