Smoked Trotter Stew

Ingredients:

• 4 pork trotters
• 50 g duck fat
• 1 brown onion, sliced
• 3 tsp salt
• 1 head of garlic, halved
• 3 cinnamon quills
• 1 knob of ginger, sliced thickly
• 4 star aniseed
• 1 cup white wine
• 3 celery sticks, chopped
• 2 carrots, peeled and chopped
• 600 g smoked ham hock (on the bone)
• 5 bay leaves
• 4 small sprigs of rosemary
• 2 cups cooked cannellini beans
• 1 handful of parsley

Method:

• Remove skin from the trotters with a small sharp knife and discard.
• Heat duck fat in a large pot and brown trotter bones. Remove and set aside.
• In the same pot sweat off the onion with salt until translucent.
• Add the garlic, cinnamon, ginger, star anise and stir it all for a bit.
• Add white wine and cook for a minute more until almost dry.
• Return trotters to the pot with celery, carrots, ham hock and 3.5 L of water.
• Bring to the boil and skim off any impurities that rise to the surface.
• Add the bay leaves and rosemary.
• Reduce heat to a simmer and leave it for 2 hours. Top it up if need be.
• The hock should be nice and tender now so fish it out while it's still hot, set it on a plate and strain everything out of the stock.
• Drop the hock back into the stock and let it cool (this will keep it tender and juicy).
• When it reaches room temperature pull it out onto a wide chopping board and peel off the skin, discard and
• separate the flesh from the bone, add a sprinkling of parsley, roughly chopped at the last minute.
• Ladle into bowls over the pork and beans. 
• Best enjoyed cool.