Split green peas and ham

Winter

Each year I want less, more. I’d rather go somewhere wild and cook alone, than be here and lost. Most of this noise is meaningless anyway. I prefer the unspoken ones, the unsure. I want to be like the people who cook split green peas and ham, quietly, unknowingly. I want the memory of a meal to be the meal itself, not a photograph. If I stare into a fire, what do I see – the future or the past?

Serves 4

Ingredients

250g (9oz) split green peas
1kg (2lb 4oz) free-range or organic ham hock
4 carrots, peeled and cut into chunky rounds
1 onion, halved and thinly sliced
4 bay leaves
4 garlic cloves, thickly sliced
Freshly ground black pepper
Thickly buttered good bread, to serve (optional)

Method

Soak the split green peas in plenty of water for 6–8 hours.

When you’re ready to cook, give the ham hock a quick rinse if you can. Pop it into a large pan with the carrots, onion, bay leaves, and garlic. Cover everything with water and set the pan over a hot part of the fire.

Bring the ham hock up to a gentle simmer, partly cover with a lid, and cook gently for 1½–2½ hours, or until the meat is nice and tender and falling away from the bone. You’ll need to top the pan up with more water if the meat’s not completely covered, otherwise it won’t cook evenly.

Rinse the soaked split peas in plenty of fresh water, drain them, and add them to the pot. Stir them into the stock carefully so as not to break up the ham or mush the carrots.

Simmer the peas, stirring regularly, until they are beginning to break down and thicken. This may take some time, but they will soften, eventually. Again, add a dash more water if you need to.

Cook the peas until they have a spoonable consistency – they are very unlikely to need seasoning with salt at this point, because the ham will be salty enough, but a good twist of black pepper wouldn’t go amiss.

Serve the ham in chunks and hunks with plenty of peas and carrots and some thickly buttered bread, should you fancy.

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