Mustard and muscovado roast ham hocks with celeriac, apple, raisin and parsley salad

Serves eight to 10 as a generous first course

For the celeriac salad

• 250 smoked ham hocks
• 1 onion
• 8 cloves
• 440g cider
• 0.5 tsp black peppercorns
• 100g dark brown muscovado sugar
• 1 pinch ground cloves
• 75g English mustard

• 3 tbsp red-wine vinegar
• 30g currants
• 1 squeeze lemon
• 75g natural yoghurt
• 35g mayonnaise
• 0.5 tsp wholegrain mustard
• 0.5 celeriac
• 2 granny smith apples
• 1 small bunch flat-leaf parsley
• 0 freshly ground black pepper

Step 1
Hocks are a fraction of the cost of a whole ham.

Step 2
Soak the hocks overnight in a large pan of cold water, then drain – this removes excess salt.

Step 3
Stud the onion with the cloves, then put it in the same pan with the drained ham, cider and peppercorns.

Step 4
Add enough water to cover, then clap on the lid and bring to a boil.

Step 5
Turn down to a low simmer and leave to cook for two hours, until tender (top with boiling water to cover, as necessary).

Step 6
Heat the oven to 200C/390F/gas mark 6.

Step 7
Lift the hocks out of the pan and on to a board.

Step 8
When they are cool enough to handle, remove the skin with a sharp knife, but leave the fat on the hams.

Step 9
(Use the skin to make crackling – it’s a fun garnish on the salad, for instance, or chop it into strips and serve with apple sauce as an extra-tasty nibble) Lightly score the fat all over in a diamond pattern.

Step 10
Mix the muscovado sugar, ground clove and mustard into a paste, then smear over the hocks.

Step 11
Spoon a ladle of ham stock into a roasting tin (this will help keep the meat moist), and put a rack in the tin.

Step 12
Sit the hocks on the rack and roast for 30-35 minutes, until the fat is golden and glazed, then remove and leave to rest.

Step 13
Meanwhile, start on the salad.

Step 14
Heat the vinegar in a pan, then pour it over the raisins in a small bowl and leave to soak for five minutes.

Step 15
Mix the vinegar and raisins with the lemon juice, yoghurt, mayo and wholegrain mustard.

Step 16
Using a mandoline (be careful) or the slicing attachment on a food processor, very finely slice the celeriac and apples, then toss in the dressing with the parsley and season generously.

Step 17
Pull the meat from the hocks in bite-size chunks and serve warm or cold with the celeriac salad, either on individual plates as a light first course, or as a canape (rest a little shredded ham on individual chicory leaves and top with the celeriac and apple cut into matchsticks, so they fit in the leaves).