Nothing warms the cockles of your heart quite like a lovely bowl of soup

A ham hock is an excellent base to start. It has a bone which will give you added flavour and is cured meat – a double bonus. It takes a bit of time to cook but you’ll end up with a surprising amount of soft, unctuous meat and a delicious stock. You could use the stock for risottos, for creamy sauce to go with pasta or potatoes or, as in the recipe here, stick with a hearty soup. When you cook the hock add some roughly chopped onion and celery – it will impart flavour and you can use the vegetables in the soup.

This soup uses marrowfat peas – dried peas that form part of a classic dried soup mix. Soak them overnight then cook them in stock with some leeks, soup celery and potatoes. When all are cooked return the cooked vegetables from the stock, some shredded ham hock and lots of fresh parsley. Try and source locally grown curly parsley – it packs so much more of a punch that the slightly insipid Italian variety. At this stage you have a meal in a bowl but if you want to take it to another level I’ve added a recipe for mini soda farls, cooked on a griddle and then split. The remaining ham hock is mixed with scallions, mustard, parsley and sour cream and placed on top. A bit of work but so worth it and your kitchen will smell divine…..

Another rib sticker recipe this week is for a bread and butter pudding using a fruit loaf. Slice the loaf, cut out circles then place the trimmings in a buttered dish. Top with the circles, overlapping, drizzle with butter and then soak in a custard. Bake until wobbly. At this stage you could serve this as it is but again to make it special I’ve added a recipe for pears poached in an aromatic ginger ale syrup. When the pears are soft remove and boil the syrup until thick and toss into the pears. Warm, custardy bread pudding and spicy pears – a heart warming winter treat…