Ham hock bone broth with peas, cream and fresh mint

A few weeks ago, when I got home from hospital with my newborn, I realised there would not be much time for cooking so made a culinary investment I figured would yield... I bought a delicious 5kg roast ham from the HK Cricket Club.

This is the kind of thing most people buy at Christmas if they are hosting a party, but given my amplified appetite post partum, I was certain we had the capacity for it, and I do hate waste. It arrived in fact the day we were readmitted to hospital with Holly's virus so turned out to be even more useful.

Aside from simply sawing off a few hunks when we came in late, the kids had a never ending supply of ham sandwiches, I would fry it with eggs for breakfast, dice it in a Cobb salad for lunch, shred it into a carbonara, toss it through risotto and chop it into a fried rice. That's right, by the end of the week, we were well and truly SICK of it, and my husband had to impose a "once a day" ham quota to avoid porcine metamorphosis.

So this was the last piggy supper... I simmered the bone for 4 hours yesterday before straining it to reserve the liquid, which turned out to be a highly gelatinous (=nutritious💪) stock. Today I added 1 cup of peas and 1 cup of cream, blending it partly to allow some texture to remain. Served it in espresso cups with 5 small fresh mint leaves in each. Ironically, I did regret not reserving a little meat to crisp up and scatter on top...

So, the moral of the story is, do consider a ham like this if you find yourself in a similar position at home, with lots of hungry mouths to feed and limited help, but be creative as the novelty can wear off pretty quickly! Better off buying one for a party and enjoying the leftovers or sharing one with a neighbour...