A Girl and Her Pig. April Bloomfield

      GREEN PEA AND HAM SOUP

      I’ve eaten split pea and ham soup for as long as I can remember. On chilly days when my dad was being stingy with the heat, it especially hit the spot. But this concept is just as good when sugary fresh peas show up at the farmer’s market. Although I must admit that I rarely feel like shelling peas at home after a long day in the kitchen, and I love frozen peas, which are consistently fine, so that’s what I call for here. The finished dish is bright green and sweet, with little chunks of ham, carrots, and cool white blobs of crème fraîche floating on its surface.

      serves 4

       FOR THE BROTH

      900g meaty smoked ham hocks

      ½ medium Spanish onion, halved

      3 small celery stalks, very roughly chopped

      ½ medium carrot, peeled, very roughly chopped

      1 head garlic, halved horizontally, not peeled

      1 fresh bay leaf, or ½ dried

      6 black peppercorns

       FOR THE SOUP

      60g unsalted butter

      ½ small Spanish onion, finely chopped

      1 small carrot, peeled and cut into 1cm pieces

      2 teaspoons Maldon or another flaky sea salt

      100ml dry white wine, such as Sauvignon Blanc

      Five-fingered pinch of mint leaves, plus some torn leaves for finishing

      Two 340g packages Birds Eye frozen baby peas

      Extra virgin olive oil

      Freshly ground black pepper

      3 or 4 tablespoons crème fraîche

      Make the broth: Combine the hocks, vegetables, bay leaf, peppercorns, and 2 litres water in a medium stockpot and bring to the boil over high heat. Turn the heat to low, put the lid on, and cook at a nice steady simmer until the meat on the hocks is so tender it’s almost falling off the bone, 4 to 5 hours.

      Carefully remove the hocks and put them in a big bowl. Strain the cooking liquid through a sieve into the bowl, and discard the vegetables and aromatics. Let the hocks cool in the liquid.

      When the hocks are cool enough to handle, pull off the meat in bite-sized chunks. Discard the bones and any hard bits and some of the fat, but don’t throw away the skin –I add the skin to the soup in thin slices, along with the chunks of ham. You don’t have to, but I like the way it goes sticky in the soup. You can keep the stock and meat (moistened with a splash of stock) in separate airtight containers in the fridge for up to two days. Gently warm the meat and skin before proceeding with the recipe. This recipe requires only 1 litre of stock – you may freeze the leftover stock for up to a month for your next batch of soup.

      Make the soup: Put the butter in a large pot that has a lid and set it over medium heat. Once the butter starts to froth, add the onion, carrot, and salt and stir. Cover the pot and cook, stirring every now and again, until the onions are soft and creamy (but not coloured) and the carrots are tender but firm, about 15 minutes.

      Add the wine and bring it to the boil (turn the heat up if you need to). Let the wine boil until it’s all but gone, about 5 minutes. Add the mint and 1 litre of the ham broth and bring the liquid to the boil, then add the peas. (At this point, the carrots will have bobbed to the top. I like to pick out most of the carrot chunks before puréeing the soup, then add them back after. That way, you can nibble on them in the soup, getting that bit of texture.) Cook at a simmer until the peas are warmed through and tender, about 5 minutes.