Ham hock macaroni cheese

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This ham hock laden macaroni cheese recipe from Dominic Chapman is richly flavoursome. Ham hocks, braised and shredded, are mixed with macaroni pasta and enveloped in a creamy sauce, providing a hardy, comforting dish. Macaroni pasta is ideal to use in this recipe, but you can also use penne, ziti or any other sort of tubular pasta. Take care to check the seasoning before adding any further salt in this recipe.

First published in 2015

Ingredients

Metric

Imperial

Method

1
Begin by cooking the ham hocks. In a large pot, cover your ham hocks in 5 litres water. Bring to the boil, reduce to a gentle simmer, and braise for 3 hours or until tender
2
Once cooked, remove the ham hocks from the pot, reserving 4 litres of the ham stock. Remove all meat from hocks and shred to bite size pieces. Set the meat aside while you work on the sauce
3
Strain 800ml of the stock into a large clean pan. Bring the stock to a rolling boil and reduce until you have 100ml left
4
Add 250ml of double cream to the reduced stock and bring to the boil. Remove sauce from heat, season with salt if needed. Strain the sauce and set aside
  • 250ml of double cream
  • salt
5
In a large pan of boiling water, cook the macaroni for 7 minutes. Refresh and cut to size of approximately 3cm in length, if needed
6
In a mixing bowl, combine the whisked double cream, béchamel and hollandaise. Set the mix aside until needed
  • 200ml of double cream
  • 200ml of bechamel sauce
  • 200ml of hollandaise
7
In a pan, bring 200ml of sauce to the boil, you can reserve the remaining 150ml for another macaroni cheese or cream based pasta dish. Add the shredded ham hock and reduce to coating consistency. Add the cooked macaroni and the chopped parsley. Add salt to taste if needed
8
Place the macaroni in a baking dish. Spoon over the hollandaise mix to cover macaroni and colour under a hot grill. Finish with Gruyère, fleur de sel and chopped chives. Serve immediately
First published in 2015

Dominic Chapman's passion for food is in the blood: his family has owned and run the highly acclaimed Castle Hotel in Taunton for over 60 years.

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