Off-Grid Making: Pea and Ham soup

This awful weather has had us holed up at home with the stove on when we are aren't out checking on mooring ropes. I decided to make some soup using a ham hock, inspired by this recipe from the Skint Foodie.

ham hock (I used 1 kg smoked hock)
water 1.25 litres 
apple juice 250ml
carrot 1, roughly chopped
onion 1, roughly chopped
tsp black pepper
tsp cinnamon
parsley stalks a handful
bay leaves 2

200g peas (dried, fresh or tinned)

Bring the hock to the boil,to remove scum. Discard water and scum (mine went in the river), and replace hock in the cleaned pan, with the water, apple juice, carrot, onion and spices (everyting except the peas and parsley). Bring to the boil and simmer until the meat starts to come off the bone. (1.5-2 hours). Remove bay leaves. Add peas (I used tinned ones, but if using dried peas, it will need another 45 minutes). Remove meat and take it off the bone, cutting off the fat as well if you're not keen on it like me. Chop/pull apart the meat and put as much as you like back into the soup. There should be more than enough meat to keep some back for other purposes, like eating cold with salads or sanwiches the next day. If using fresh/tinned peas, the soup should be ready to eat once the peas are cooked through (5 minutes or so). Add parsely just before serving.

This was really simple and tasty, and we both enjoyed it. We are still eating the leftover meat a day or two later. I also tried out my new food processor (more on that another time) to chop the vegetables and it worked a treat.

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