Ham Hock Pistachio Roll Food

HAM HOCK & PISTACHIO ROLL

Steps:

• To make the roll, put the ham hocks in a large pan and add all the ingredients, except the chopped parsley (do add the stalks) and pistachios. Cover with cold water, bring to the boil and simmer gently for 3-4 hrs until the meat is very tender.
• Remove the hocks from the liquid, reserving 100ml (save the rest to make a split pea or chunky vegetable soup), and leave them until just cool enough to handle - the hotter the ham, the easier it is to shred. If you have a pair of clean washing-up or food preparation gloves, it's easier to handle the hocks while they are hot. Take the meat off the bone and shred into another bowl, discarding any skin, large bits of fat, gristle or cartilage. Add the pistachios, chopped parsley and 100ml ham stock in with the ham, and add a drizzle more vinegar. Squish everything through your fingers to mix it a bit more.
• Lay overlapping pieces of cling film on a clean work surface the size of an A3 piece of paper. Pile the mixture along the bottom length of the cling film, leaving about 10cm free on each side. Roll the ham in the cling film into a large, tight sausage shape, piercing with a skewer once or twice to release any air, then put in the fridge overnight. Can be made up to four days ahead.
• To make the dressing, tip the mustard into a bowl and slowly whisk in the vinegar, then the oil, to make an emulsion. Tip into a squeezy bottle if you have one. Using a small melon baller, scoop out balls of the apples, then tip into a bowl with the vinegar, add the shallot rings and leave for a few mins to pickle.
• To serve, carve the ham roll on the diagonal, still in the cling film, into slices about 2cm thick. Peel off the cling film, put the slices on plates and brush with a little rapeseed oil if you want to make it shiny. Build a thin line of watercress along the other side of the plate and arrange three apple balls and some shallot rings along the watercress, then scatter with chunks of scratchings. Dot the plate with blobs of dressing and serve the rest on the side.

HUNGARIAN CABBAGE ROLLS

Steps:

• Get out your big turkey roasting pan or other large roasting pan with lid.
• Cook both cabbages in boiling water, gently peeling off large outer leaves as they become pliable. Continue peeling off leaves until you have at least 25. Remove cabbage from pots and cool. Core when cool, and save the rest.
• In a large mixing bowl, combine ground pork (NOTE: the reason for using a ground shoulder roast is because you want more fat than in normally found in ground pork, but if already ground pork is your only option, go ahead and use it, but mix in about 1/2 cup Crisco or other solid shortening with pork).
• So, combine pork, garlic, uncooked rice, and paprika. Add enough hot water to make mixture workable, but not mushy.
• Now for your cabbage leaves, lay spine side up on cutting board, and with very sharp knife, trim the spine to make it thinner. Start at the top, in the leaf, and trim very gently until you get to the bottom where you can trim more deeply, to get a uniform thickness. Be careful not to puncture leaf or trim too deeply. This step makes the leaves so much easier to roll. Flip leaves over so that the "cup" side is up.
• Once your leaves are ready to roll, place a good 1/2 cup of pork mixture in your hand and shape into an oblong roll, about 1-1/2 inch thick and 3-4 inches long. Place this in center of cabbage leaf and make the roll, folding bottom up, then sides in, then roll to top. (kinda like a burrito) Continue till all filling and leaves are used.
• Coarsely chop your remaining cabbage.
• Preheat oven to 350.
• In bottom of roasting pan, place chopped cabbage and sauerkraut and mix together well. Lay your ham hocks all around, evenly distributed, and kinda poke them down into kraut and cabbage mixture.
• Now you place your cabbage rolls on top of all. Stagger placement so that the rolls aren't directly on top of one another.
• Pour hot water over the whole thing, just to barely cover.
• Put cover on roaster and bake at 350 for 2-1/2 to 3 hours until your rolls are quite firm.
• To Serve, place some kraut cabbage mixture on plate, top with cabbage rolls, usually about 3 per serving, and top with sour cream to taste.
• NOTE: You may want to have a 3rd head of cabbage on hand, just in case you can't get enough leaves off of two to use all your filling.