Keep it Simple, Stupid: How to Cook Without Fuss

Simply: the best. The soup can be blended to a thick consistency, or left more brothy. Photograph: Jill Mead/Guardian. The key to really great home cooking is often sticking to a few core elements - a simple recipe such as this ham hock soup will show off your skills to their best. Sometimes it takes the most confidence to do the simplest things. My mother-in-law for example, whom I would put on any list of the world's great cooks, is the only person I know with the chutzpah to serve old-fashioned savoury mince with plain boiled potatoes at a dinner party. It is so good I could live off it. In the professional sphere, the chef Mark Hix has made a career out of the principle that a plate should consist of no more than three main ingredients. The result is always pure happiness. For us lesser mortals, it is all too tempting to substitute complexity for taste. We hide our insecurities behind kitchen gadgets and restaurant-style plating. I went through a terrible phase as a teenager - shortly after reading Marco Pierre White's White Heat - of serving heavily reduced jus with everything I cooked. There's a place for complex cookery, of course. A brilliant chef, such as White, can perform amazing feats of alchemy: taking something as unlovely as a pig's trotter and turning it into a dish of implausible refinement. But, just as a good writer doesn't need to use lots of long words to make a point, a skilled chef never loses sight of the simple pleasures. "I crave the ordinary," as White himself admitted in a recent interview. "My favourite dinner is a cup of tea and a ham sandwich with English mustard." Today's recipe is arguably even more basic: some boiled meat and vegetables in a pot. It has been with us since humans first discovered fire, and while the method may be simple, the results are sensational. A note on swede: I realised late in life that this much-maligned root veg creates the best juice of any vegetable. It has a transformative effect on any soup and gravy.

 

Ham hock soup - also known as Gran's soup This soup is my collaborator Jane's mum's recipe - hence its alter-ego of Gran's Soup. She first cooked it herself when she was running the Riverford Farm field kitchen and it has become a favourite with her son, David. Steps 1 to 4 can be done the day before.

Cooking time: 2-3 hours plus soaking of lentilsPrep time: 15 minutes Serves 6 For the stock 1 onion1 carrot1 celery stick4 leeks, green parts only, roughly chopped (keep the white parts for later) 1 bay leaf1 tbsp black peppercorns For the soup 100g split yellow peas, soaked overnight1 ham hock4 carrots4 leeks, white parts only (see above)1 small swede, peeled1 tbsp olive oil100g red lentils2 tbsp chopped parsleySalt and black pepper1 Rinse the ham hock in cold running water. Place it in a pan that it fits into comfortably. 2 Now prepare the vegetables for the stock, throwing them into the same pan as you go. Chop the top and the root off the onion. Chop it in half and peel it. Then chop it roughly. Peel the carrot and chop it up roughly, discarding the ends. Wash the celery and chop it roughly - you can use the leaves in the stock as well as the stalks, but discard the root. Wash the leeks. Chop off the root and the green parts at the top. Put the outer leaves and the green parts into the pan. Keep the white parts for later.

3 Add the bay leaf and peppercorns, cover with cold water and place over a high heat until it comes up to the boil. Turn the heat down to a low simmer and cook gently for about 2-3 hours, or until the meat is pulling away from the ham bone. Keep topping up the pan with water so the ham hock is always covered. Strain off the stock and set aside. 4 Now prepare the vegetables for the soup. You can chop them roughly if you are in a hurry or if you plan to blend the soup, but with a dish as simple as this it can be satisfying to spend some time making them look pretty. If you want to do this, follow these instruction: Peel the carrots and chop off the top and tail. Cut them into four strips lengthways - this can be tricky; be careful not to cut yourself. Then cut these strips lengthways to make batons. Finally cut them across into little cubes. Slice the whites of the leeks into two halves lengthways, then slice each half into strips lengthwise and finally cut them across to make little dice. Peel the swede. Chop it horizontally into rounds. Then slice across these to make batons and finally across again to make little squares. 5 In a large heavy-based pan, heat up the olive oil and add the diced vegetables. Stir well, season and cook covered over a low heat for 5 minutes. Drain the split peas and add to the veg along with the lentils. Cook for a minute and stir well. Add about 1 litre of the reserved ham stock and bring up to a simmer. Cook gently for about 1 hour or until the vegetables and pulses are tender. Add extra stock or water if the soup is getting too thick. 6 When the soup is cooked you can add water to make it thinner if you prefer. At this stage you can keep it as a chunky veg soup or blend until smooth. We like to blend a cupful of the soup mix and return it to the unblended soup. Season the soup well - do this in stages, tasting between each addition of salt and pepper - and add the chopped parsley. The meat from the ham hock can be shredded and added to the soup, as it has been in the picture to the left. Alternatively, it can be reserved for another dish such as a ham hock salad or sandwich. This is delicious with a blob of cold yoghurt on top. This provides richness, a contrast of temperatures and an acidic twang. Recipe by Jane Baxter. Henry Dimbleby is co-founder of the natural fast-food restaurant chain Leon (@henry_leon). Get your kids cooking at cook5.co.uk