|
|
Recipe Blog - thebroadroom.net: January 2006
Post-Holiday Lentil Soup
posted by Colleen Shirazi,
Wednesday, January 04, 2006
at 4:15 PM (Pacific)
I suppose everyone has done this...it's easy to make plus you get use out of your ham bone. In fact, a word to the wise--buy your lentils before the holidays. I had to try several major grocery stores, after Christmas, to find even one bag. :0
* 2 lbs. ordinary dried brown lentils
* your ham bone, plus whatever leftover ham you have...cut the ham into bite-sized pieces, don't stress about leaving some meat on the bone
* 1 onion, chopped
* chopped celery if you like it
* leftover carrots from the holidays, or fresh carrots, cut into bite-sized pieces
* soy sauce
* about twice as much fresh spinach as you think you will need (one large strainer heaping full)
Wash the lentils well and pick through them to remove any small stones. Place them in a large pot with the ham bone, lots of water, the chopped onion and celery. If you're using fresh carrots, add them as well.
Add some soy sauce. The idea of using soy sauce in soup is to add color as well as flavor and saltiness. Hence, darker soy sauce is better than light, which tends to be too watery. Add some ground black pepper.
Bring to the boil and simmer until everything is tender. You will have to skim this a lot to remove scum and fat.
Add the bite-sized ham and the spinach, and cook until the spinach is done and everything is hot (a few more minutes).
Adjust the soy sauce and black pepper. You can also add salt of course but the ham and the soy are already salty, so taste it first!
That's it...it's really delicious.
You can serve it with fresh lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil, if you're looking for zing.
 
|