Salted ham hocks and Swede puree is a traditional Swedish home cooking! It is indeed a winter meal – but once now and then we just have the desire to have this dish, so we really don’t care which time of the year it is.
I just felt for this dish the other day, and my God, it was good! Here is an incredibly simple recipe. Now I did it in the slow cooker, but it is good enough with a regular saucepan.
Ingredients for 3 portions:
| Ham Hock | Swede puree or rutabaga puree |
| 1 kg salted ham hocks (without bones) | 650 g Swede (rutabaga) |
| Two teaspoons salt | 200 g Potato |
| Ten Allspice peppercorns | One small shallot |
| Three bay leaves | Some Allspice peppercorns |
| Three pcs. celery stalks | One concentrated vegetarian fund |
| Two yellow onions | Two carrots |
| Two carrots | 1 – 2 bay leaves |
| water | |
| The sauce: | |
| Two parts cream fraiche | |
| One part Dijon mustard or plain mustard | |
| 0.5 part chopped parsley |
Method:
- Wash and peel vegetables, cut them in smaller pieces. Place The vegetables at the bottom of your slow cooker or regular saucepan along with the spices.
- Boil water in a large saucepan, meanwhile you can wash the meat and set aside. When the water starts boiling you put the meat and wait until it starts to boil again. Foam off properly. When the water is finally completely foam-free, you can remove it from the stove. Do not throw away the water!
- Pick up the meat and place it over the vegetables in a slow cooker or saucepan. Pour the boiling water over it, pour in more water to cover the meat.
- Set the slow cooker to 4 hours or (high); if you cook it in a regular saucepan, you can let the water boil and then let everything simmer for about 2 hours.
- Wash and peel the swede and cut it into smaller pieces, leaving it in salted water, so it doesn’t get dark. Also, peel and cut the potatoes into smaller pieces. Leave the potato in water in a separate bowl. The swede takes longer to cook than potatoes, so it is not a good idea to have the potatoes from the beginning.
- Peel and cut the shallots into smaller pieces and place them in the same bowl or saucepan as the swede.
- Peel and cut the carrots into smaller pieces and place it together with the swede.
- Add bay leaves and peppercorns in a tea strainer.
- The swede takes about 40 minutes to cook (in smaller chunks) – when 20 minutes have passed, you can add the potato.
- Pick up the meat – cut it into slices or smaller pieces. Do not throw away the water that the meat has boiled in – you can use it to dilute the puree.
- Keep the meat warm until you have made the Swede puree.
- When the Swede (rutabaga) and potatoes are ready, remove the peppercorns and bay leaves, mash, and dilute with the water in which you have cooked the meat in.
Plain mustard is suitable to serve with this dish. But if you want a more luxurious version, you can mix a sauce consisting of 2 parts creme fraiche, 1-part Dijon mustard or plain mustard, and 0.5 part chopped parsley.
Enjoy!
