Ham & Lentil Soup

Well it's over 100 degrees here and I probably won't be making soup anytime soon, but maybe it's cooler wherever you are. This is a great freezer/pantry soup in that you probably have all the ingredients on hand. I love serving ham for holidays or big dinners because it's good the first time, and then the leftovers are great for adding flavor to future soups, beans, and greens. Anyway, this soup is realllllllly good. If you don't have lovely frozen ham scraps in your freezer, I've also had success with bacon, deli ham, or pancetta. I don't like putting my soup in the blender, and it's not necessary with this one because the veggies cook down and the lentils mush out, and it naturally evolves into thick stewy goodness.

Ham & Lentil Soup

1 cup dried lentils

Big handful or so of frozen ham bits

1 carrot, diced

1 stalk celery, diced

1/4 onion, diced

1 clove garlic, minced

1 bay leaf

handful of ham bits

salt & pepper

olive oil

Saute the ham, carrot, celery, onion and garlic in olive oil for 5 minutes. Add the lentils and bay leaf, then cover with enough water so the proportion is 1 part floating stuff, 2 parts water. Season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, cover and lower to a simmer. Simmer on low for 40 minutes or until lentils are soft and cooked thru. Taste and season as necessary; you'll want a lot of pepper in this, but not as much salt because the ham adds a lot.

Yum, simple but delicious...