Pulled gammon ham hoc and parsley sauce

Posted by petra08 on January 31, 2014 · 8 Comments 

A couple of weeks ago I was talking to a friend and he mentioned ham with parsley sauce. Ever since I really wanted to make it. The only thing stopping me was the thought of making a large ham. I don’t have too much space  in the fridge and not too many evenings at home this week so not ideal for having a ham hanging around. This was solved when I saw a gammon ham hoc at Robson’s Butchers. Ham hoc is  as cheap as chips and tastes wonderful, the one I bought cost £2.71 and was plentiful for dinner for two! There was extra stock that I put in the freezer for soup for another dish and another day.

It is just as easy making 2 ham hocs at the same time and you don’t really need more ingredients, just a bigger pan! I wanted a dish that had soft flavors where none was overwhelming or stood out too much without being boring. A slightly updated version of a very traditional dish.

Pulled gammon ham hoc

preparation time 10 minutes 

cooking time 2 hr 

oven 140C or 280F

serves 2

Ingredients

• 1 gammon ham hoc
• 1 carrot
• 1 leek
• 1 onion
• 1 shallot onion
• 4 garlic cloves
• 1 bunch of parsley stalks
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 tbsp oil
• 5 dl water
• 1 dl white wine

Start the oven. Rinse the ham hoc and place it in a large pan with plenty of cold water. Bring to a boil, rinse again in cold water and set aside. Peel and chop the carrot, onion, shallot and the garlic cloves. Bruise and cut the parsley stalks, slice the leek. Gently tear the bay leaf, not quite in half.

Heat the oil in an ovenproof dish with a lid and pan fry the carrot, onion and shallot onion. Don’t color it just fry it gently until the onion is soft and translucent. Add the blanched ham hoc, the remaining vegetables, the water and the wine along with the bay leafs.

Put the lid on and place the dish in the oven and let cook for an hour. After an hour turn it and place it back again for 1 – 1 1/2 hour. When it is cooked cool and place in the fridge. I cooked this the day before when I was at home and all I had to do when I got home was to pull the meat off the bone and remove the fat.

Pulled, cooked ham hoc 

I did a parsley sauce and boiled potatoes to go with it. I had some light cream in the fridge and no milk so I used this together with stock.

Parsley sauce 

preparation time 4 minutes 

cooking time 5 minutes 

serves 2

Ingredients

• 3 dl chicken stock
• 1 dl light cream
• 3 tsp corn starch
• salt
• ground white pepper
• nutmeg for grating
• a good bunch of parsley

Chop the parsley quite rough. Bring the chicken stock and the cream to boil. Mix the corn starch with a little cold water and add to the boiling liquid. Let the corn starch boil out and add salt, ground white pepper and some grated nutmeg to the sauce. When you are happy add the chopped parsley and bring the heat down to low, just keep it warm until serving. The parsley will wilt and add flavor.

The water that the ham hoc has been cooking in had become jellied and I did what my mom used to do, I served it on the side. It is a great way to eat the stock and vegetables the ham hoc cooked in.

I only realized I did what my mom did as I plated up, it is funny how I discover doing things without even thinking just because my mom used to! It was light and besides the low fat cream, healthy, a perfect weeknight meal.

Filed under Allotment/Veg, Carrot, Celery, Chilli, Garlic, Herbs, Leek, Main course, Onion, Pork, Potatoes, Recipe · Tagged with ham and parsley, ham hoc, parsley sauce