Creamless Cream of Joselito Ham and Pea Soup

I was going to run some crazy avant garde stuff here; a continuation of my 973-part series entitled "I Am the Smartest Person Alive" using recipes from Ferran Adria. Well, I had all of my ingredients together except one: calcium chloride. Now, you may be asking yourself, "What the hell do you need calcium chloride for?" Well, I was going to make these funky balloons of pea in a ham broth. Long story. Let's just say I didn't have it (but I have now ordered it). What do do with these ingredients? Specifically, what to do with the lovely Joselito ham bones?

Well, I have created a variation on the El Bulli recipe, just without the fireworks. The flavors are all there and totally subtle. To get Joselito ham bones, contact your local people who provide serrano ham and the like. A Spanish food specialty food shop (in person, or better yet, online) will be able to get you these bones. Get yourself some of the Joselito ham while you are at it, to see what all the fuss is about.

This turned out to be a really light soup (the foam lightened the texture considerably - made it 'airy-er') and the flavors were just meant to be together. If you don't have the foam whipper, just do it without it and omit the gelatin.

GARLIC CONFIT
30 g garlic
water
50 g extra virgin olive oil

PEA JUS
240 g peas
300 g water
salt
1 tablespoon dried mint

JOSELITO HAM STOCK
500 g Iberico ham bones, preferably Joselito
1500 g water

CREAMLESS CREAM OF JOSELITO HAM FOAM
500 g prepared Joselito ham stock
2 leaves gelatin, soaked in cold water to soften, excess water squeezed out
30 g prepared garlic confit
50 g prepared garlic confit oil

FINISH
extra virgin olive oil, to drizzle

GARLIC CONFIT
Peel the garlic. Blanch them in boiling water three times. Then, heat the oil to 70C and confit the garlic for 3 hours, maintaining this temperature. Remove from the heat and chill for 24 hours.

PEA JUS
Heat the water to boiling. Put the peas in a blender. Pour over the boiling water and whiz up in the blender. Add salt to taste and the mint. Chill.

JOSELITO HAM STOCK
Blanch the bones in boiling water for a few minutes and drain. Next, add the amount of water shown and put the ham bones in the water. Cook to reduce the water down to 500 ml, skimming every once in awhile.

CREAMLESS CREAM OF JOSELITO HAM
Combine the stock and garlic cloves in a blender and process until smooth. Slowly add the oil from the confit and blend to emulsify. Season to taste. Take 1/3 of the liquid and heat to a simmer. Add the gelatin and stir until dissolved. Add back to the remaining ham liquid and put in the siphon and charge (you don't have to use a siphon, but it does lighten the texture). Chill until needed.

FINISH
Heat the pea jus to a simmer. Squirt the ham foam into a bowl. Pour in the pea jus. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and serve.