Make-ahead Christmas recipe for 8 - 10 people, takes only 20 mins; recipe has ham hock, carrot, onion, leek, celery stick, bay leaf, thyme sprig, clove, allspice, apple cider vinegar, parsley, pistachio, granny smith, shallot, apple cider vinegar, pork scratchings, watercress, english mustard, apple cider vinegar and extra virgin rapeseed oil.
Ham hock & pistachio roll
Course: Make-ahead Christmas
Servings
8 - 10
servings
Prep time
20 mins
Ingredients
- Onion: 1 onion, roughly chopped
- Carrot: 2 carrots, roughly chopped
- Parsley: small pack parsley, leaves chopped, stalks reserved
- Bay Leaf: 2 bay leaves
- Extra Virgin Rapeseed Oil: 4 tbsp extra virgin rapeseed oil, plus extra for brushing (optional)
- Celery Stick: 2 celery sticks, roughly chopped
- Watercress: 1 bag of watercress
- Shallot: 1 shallot, thinly sliced into rings
- Leek: 1 leek top, if you have it, roughly chopped (optional)
- Allspice: 1 allspice berry
- Thyme Sprig: 1 thyme sprig
- Pistachio: 80g shelled and toasted pistachio
- English Mustard: 2 tbsp English mustard
- Clove: 2 cloves
- Apple Cider Vinegar: 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar, plus a splash
- Granny Smith: 2 Granny Smiths apples
- Ham Hock: 2 smoked ham hock (about 3kg in total)
- Pork Scratchings: 40g bag pork scratchings, lightly crushed
Directions
- To make the roll, put the ham hocks in a large pan and add all the ingredients, except the chopped parsley (do add the stalks) and pistachios. Cover with cold water, bring to the boil and simmer gently for 3-4 hrs until the meat is very tender.
- Remove the hocks from the liquid, reserving 100ml (save the rest to make a split pea or chunky vegetable soup), and leave them until just cool enough to handle - the hotter the ham, the easier it is to shred. If you have a pair of clean washing-up or food preparation gloves, it's easier to handle the hocks while they are hot. Take the meat off the bone and shred into another bowl, discarding any skin, large bits of fat, gristle or cartilage. Add the pistachios, chopped parsley and 100ml ham stock in with the ham, and add a drizzle more vinegar. Squish everything through your fingers to mix it a bit more.
- Lay overlapping pieces of cling film on a clean work surface the size of an A3 piece of paper. Pile the mixture along the bottom length of the cling film, leaving about 10cm free on each side. Roll the ham in the cling film into a large, tight sausage shape, piercing with a skewer once or twice to release any air, then put in the fridge overnight. Can be made up to four days ahead.
- To make the dressing, tip the mustard into a bowl and slowly whisk in the vinegar, then the oil, to make an emulsion. Tip into a squeezy bottle if you have one. Using a small melon baller, scoop out balls of the apples, then tip into a bowl with the vinegar, add the shallot rings and leave for a few mins to pickle.
- To serve, carve the ham roll on the diagonal, still in the cling film, into slices about 2cm thick. Peel off the cling film, put the slices on plates and brush with a little rapeseed oil if you want to make it shiny. Build a thin line of watercress along the other side of the plate and arrange three apple balls and some shallot rings along the watercress, then scatter with chunks of scratchings. Dot the plate with blobs of dressing and serve the rest on the side.
