Winter Warmers - Slow Ham Bone Soup

Recently I picked up some weekend work at a lovely restaurant in the city. The boss has a marvelous personality and the food is delectable. It's been interesting getting to know how things go in food service, as I have visited many restaurants but never before worked in one. Working around food fortunately comes with some delicious perks like the little table by the kitchen door that treats of extras appear on for the waitstaff to nibble. And, as the place closes on Sunday and Monday, the staff get any leftover ingredients to take home as they wish.

Last week I picked up a bag of ham bones and bacon/salami trimmings, and in the spirit of the cold weather made a delightfully hearty pork soup with melting pieces of smoked ham, cabbage, butter beans and potato. The pork was reminiscent of the boiling bacon my dad used to cook up on cool nights, served with sauerkraut and mustard.

I added some fennel seeds for a lighter flavour and after being cooked for the 3-4hrs they turned soft and palatable, weakening in aroma. Surprisingly yum.

Ham Bone Soup

Serves 4

1 meaty leftover ham bone, or 1 smoked pork hock
1 brown onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic
~5 whole black peppercorns
2 bay leaves
a pinch of fennel seeds (optional)
400g cooked butter beans, or 1 handful dry
~1 cup chopped cabbage (any type really, just not chinese)
2 large potatoes, chopped in to chunks


Add the pork, onion, garlic, pepper, bay, fennel and (if using) dry beans to a large pot. Fill with water until the hock is covered. Don't add salt at this stage as the meat should be seasoned which will draw out in to the soup as it cooks, also it will mess up the bean cooking process.

Bring to the boil and skim if needed, turn to low and simmer for 3-4hrs or until the meat is tender and the beans are cooked. But don't forget...

About half an hour before ready to serve, increase the heat and add the potato, then 5 minutes prior add the cabbage. Boil until softened.  Break the meat off and remove the bones. Leave the peppercorns for your least favourite guest.

Pour in to a bowl and enjoy on the sofa wrapped in a blanket.

Gnocchi!

For me, I used to always be afraid of making gnocchi, and I remember trying it once or twice when I was younger and failing miserably. I tried all sorts of methods of cooking the potato as well as adding egg but they all seemed to be too ridiculous to bother with.

Eventually I figured out that all you really need is two ingredients (well, salt and pepper as well) but if you do the right things to them it can be super easy and adding flavour in the way of herbage/spice to change things up is also a breeze.

Also, if you don't want to read my ramblings about ingredients then scroll to the bottom for the recipe!

Potato

So, potato. I know everyone says to use specific types of potato when making gnocchi, but I've tried with a few different varieties and none have ever been bad, I don't usually use anything fancy or expensive. Essentially anything that is drier and waxy, you don't want the watery kind they'll make it all sloppy and you'll have to add too much flour turning them chewy.

I also recently experimented with sweet potato which turned out to be a great success. The key to getting the potato (any potato) right that I've found is making sure they stay dry! I roast them whole perched on a mound of salt to draw out the moisture. For medium sized potatoes about an hour on 180 does the trick, for the sweet potato a little longer because they're much bigger - but it all depends on size.

Tip: If they are huge and you're worried about them taking forever to roast invest in some metal skewers and stab them through the middle before you put them in the oven, it'll help cook them from the inside out as well as outside in.

Flour

I use all purpose plain white flour, make sure to not overwork the dough when adding the flour otherwise you'll get the gluten going and the gnocchi will turn gummy and sticky. The less flour the better so it's always going to be a moist dough, make sure you have a well floured surface to handle the dough and cut the gnocchi.

I haven't tried gluten free yet but I'm thinking that could be pretty successful though. I have some spare GF flour in the pantry so I'll report back once I test it.

Salt and Pepper

Need I say more. At least salt, otherwise they're just going to taste bland. Any additions such as chopped herbs, pesto, tomato paste or nutmeg can be added with the flour.

Tools

A potato ricer will yield the best results, otherwise a mouli or drum sieve are also viable options. If you're using a mouli however you will have to skin the potatoes while hot before passing through. Avoid mashing as it breaks the pockets of starch and causes the potato to become gluey and also doesn't allow the potatoes to dry like ricing does through increasing surface area. 

Ratio

I usually have a rough ratio on how much flour to potato but just add until the dough feels good and pop a test piece in to some boiling water as I go along. It's the best way I've found guarantee that they'll work out, add the flour a little at a time also to make sure you don't add too much!

From my findings however,

1kg of Potato (uncooked) / 1 1/2 - 2 Cups Flour

Basic Potato Gnocchi

Makes approx 4 large serves or 6 small.

1kg Waxy Potatoes
1 1/2 - 2 Cups Flour
Salt and Pepper

Preheat oven to 180 and roast potatoes whole on a shallow tray perched atop a bed of salt for 45-60mins for medium sized potatoes, more for larger.

Remove potatoes from oven, brush off salt from bottoms and chop in half. Place skin side up in a potato ricer or a over a drum sieve and pass through.While still warm add half the flour and fold through gently, then sprinkle the other half on a clean surface and incorporate (you may need more or less depending on how dry/wet your potatoes are).

Chop dough in to manageable portions and roll each out in to skinny logs. Chop each log in to bite sized pieces and place gnocchi in a large pot of boiling salted water. When they rise to the top remove, dress and eat! I like them best tossed in butter and topped with grated parmesan.

I made these ones with a rocket and walnut pesto which you can find here!