Pea and Ham Hough Soup

I make a lot of soup, as seen in my extensive Soup Category, but my brother has proclaimed this Pea and Ham Hough soup to be "the best soup ever!" His Japanese wife messaged me from Osaka (where he stays now) to ask for the recipe because she knew how much he was missing it from home.

Of all the soups I regularly have stocked in my freezer, this Pea and Ham Hough soup is easily one of my Top 5.

The salty ham hough, sweet peas and creamy sourness of the creme fraiche all come together in harmony to create the tastiest soup!

Ingredients for Pea and Ham Hough Soup

• Vegetables and Herbs: Scotty Brand frozen garden peas (although you could also use tins), brown onion, celery, garlic and parsley
• Meat: smoked ham hough (pork knuckle) - if you have leftover gammon or ham from a roast, then you could use that instead. You would need to increase the number of stock cubes used to provide more flavour though.
• Dairy: salted butter, creme friache
• Vegetable (or Ham) Stock

What Can I Use Instead Of Ham Hough?

There are a couple of options available:

• Only use stock cubes in the soup (vegetable or ham)

If you want to make the soup vegetarian or simply prefer a smooth consistency (this is my Dad's preference) then remove the ham altogether (or only use ham stock). This will also significantly reduce the cook time. You'll need to increase the number of stock cubes.

• Adapt the recipe to use up leftover ham e.g. from a roast gammon joint

Maybe you're planning to make my Chicken and Ham Pie and have some extra ham to use up - simply use extra stock cubes instead and stir the cooked ham through at the end.

Method for Pea and Ham Hough Soup

Peel, trim and chop onion and celery, add to pot and sweat it down in butter and oil.

Add ham hough, vegetable stock cube, water and garlic - simmer on medium heat for 2.5 hours 

Remove ham hough from pot, place on a plate and allow to cool. Add frozen peas to soup pot - simmer for 15 minutes.

Pour soup into a blender and add crème fraiche and parsley - blitz until smooth.

Once ham hough has cooled, shred all meat from the bone and add it back into the soup (retain some for garnish if desired).

I then used some fresh peas, some shredded ham hough and mint leaves for garnish to serve.

Storage and Reheating

How long does it keep in the fridge? Yes - 4-5 days in an airtight container. 

Can you freeze Pea and Ham Hough Soup? Yes - up to 4 months.

What type of container can you freeze soup in? When freezing soup, you can use any freezer safe container – made of plastic, glass or freezer-safe bags (using bags, lying flat, is a good space saver).

Re-Heating: the soup can be re-heated from frozen, or either after defrosting in the fridge or directly from the fridge either in the microwave or in a pot on the hob/stovetop. Heat until piping hot throughout before serving.