Leek and Ham Hock Pasta

Here’s a nice, soothing pasta dish to warm your cockles. Ham and leek is a very traditional combination, and this is perfect when you want something simple and filling after a long day. This leek and ham pasta is quick to make, absolutely delicious and will keep the whole family happy!

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With the creaminess of the dish coming from creme fraiche rather than actual cream, it’s a comforting dish which doesn’t feel too heavy.

its also highly customisable depending on what you have in the house – handful of frozen peas? Throw them in there! Leftover broccoli? Excellent, get it in! Some spinach? That’ll work perfectly too.

Leek and Ham Pasta – The Ingredients

• Fresh fusilli – I always like to use fresh pasta when I’m cooking on a weeknight, because it cuts the cooking time in half. However, dried pasta will work perfectly well. You could also use penne here.
• Garlic – required for flavour. Increase if you are a big garlic lover!
• Leeks – leeks add a delicious mild sweetness to this dish, with that earthy background note.
• Ham hock – I used precooked shredded ham hock, which you can buy from the supermarket. You can also use leftover roast ham – that would be delicious. Don’t use wafer thin ham or ham slices, the texture wouldn’t work in this dish.
• Crème fraiche – adds the creamy and almost slightly sour note to the dish – it’s so easy to use for creamy sauces!
• Parsley – use fresh. You can omit if you don’t have it.
• Mature cheddar and breadcrumbs– this is for the cheesy topping. If you like, you can make the dish up to this point and leave off the topping, serving as a normal pasta and sauce rather than a pasta bake.

Making the pasta bake

This is a quick and easy pasta bake, where you can get all of the comfort of a delicious pasta bake but in a much shorter time. Here are my top tips:

• The smaller you chop your leeks, the quicker they’ll take to cook, so if you’re in a hurry you can chop them into very small pieces.
• You have the option to serve as a normal pasta and sauce, or topped with cheese and breadcrumbs and grilled. I would always do it the cheesy way! Cook under the grill until it’s golden and bubbling. If you’re feeling adventurous, these flavours can take quite a strong cheese on top – Stilton would work well!

Leek and Ham Hock Pasta

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Harriet Young

A delicious and comforting leek and ham pasta bake, topped with mature cheddar.

5

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Total Time 25 minutes mins

Course Main Course

Cuisine Italian

Servings 4 people

Ingredients

  

• 500 g fresh fusilli
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 400 g leeks
• 180 g cooked ham hock shredded
• 200 ml half fat creme fraiche
• large handful of chopped parsley
• 40 g mature cheddar
• 20 g breadcrumbs

Instructions

 

• Put the pasta on to cook in a large pan of boiling, salted water.
• Chop the garlic and add to a large saucepan with the olive oil. Add the thinly sliced leeks and cook on a medium heat for 5 mins, until starting to soften.
• Add the ham hock and 100ml water, and simmer for 2 minutes. Add the creme fraiche, heat through for a couple of minutes, then turn off the heat and stir in the parsley.
• Drain the cooked pasta, reserving a cup of the cooking water, and stir the sauce into the pasta with the reserved water.
• You could serve it like this – or pour into an oven proof dish and top with breadcrumbs and grated cheddar, then put under the grill for 5 minutes until golden brown and bubbling.

Keyword ham, leeks, pasta