Lentil Soup recipe request

Two days ago I went to Bristol Farms (love that store) and picked up (among many other wonderful things) a package of the most beautiful ham hocks you've ever seen. Not those dark, dried up, weird looking ones you see in a regular market, plump, moist and pink. Typically, I would make 15-bean, or split pea soup, and have good recipes for those, but Len has requested Lentil.

I think I made an attempt at Lentil Soup about 10 years ago and it was pretty horrific. I didn't grow up on it, and am not even sure if I've ever had a serving of it in a restaurant to know what it is supposed to taste like. Does anyone have a good basic soup recipe (using dried Lentils)? My only preference would be that it does not contain tomatoes. That's my little quirk. The only soups I like tomatoes in are Chili and Tomato. Weird I know...

Thanks!

I realize I posted this in the wrong area. Not that Lentils can't be "fun."
Sorry everyone.....

My lentil recipe includes:

lentils, a ham bone, chopped carrots, garlic, onion, leeks, cubed potatoes, cumin, Madeira, chicken stock--all slow cooked in a large pot with a cover.

[Jenise]

Two days ago I went to Bristol Farms (love that store) and picked up (among many other wonderful things) a package of the most beautiful ham hocks you've ever seen. Not those dark, dried up, weird looking ones you see in a regular market, plump, moist and pink. Typically, I would make 15-bean, or split pea soup, and have good recipes for those, but Len has requested Lentil.

I think I made an attempt at Lentil Soup about 10 years ago and it was pretty horrific. I didn't grow up on it, and am not even sure if I've ever had a serving of it in a restaurant to know what it is supposed to taste like. Does anyone have a good basic soup recipe (using dried Lentils)? My only preference would be that it does not contain tomatoes. That's my little quirk. The only soups I like tomatoes in are Chili and Tomato. Weird I know...

Thanks!

Carrie, I don't have a recipe for lentils. Lentils is one of those ingredients you can build on wonderfully. And as a soup, it's one that I throw together when some cosmic force suggests I have good ingredients on hand, and most typically what I make is vegetarian and leaning Indian with garam masala seasoning or involving Italian sausage and tomato which of course you don't like. But it's all by the seat of my pants. You could do that too, though I would caution you to braise the ham hocks first to make a broth and meat you can break down for bite sized bits--which could use upwards of two hours' cooking time where the lentils are done in about 45 minutes. Onions, chopped celery and carrots, a bay leaf and some Herbs de Provence, and you're home!

...though I would caution you to braise the ham hocks first to make a broth and meat you can break down for bite sized bits--which could use upwards of two hours' cooking time where the lentils are done in about 45 minutes.

Am I glad you told me that. I wouldn't have known they cook so quickly!

Ham Hock and Lentil Soup

8 servings

2 tablespoons Olive oil
2 cups Small-diced onions
1 cup Small-diced celery
1 cup Small-diced carrots
Salt; to taste
Freshly-ground black pepper; to taste
2 tablespoons Chopped garlic
2 Bay leaves
6 Fresh thyme sprigs
2 quarts Chicken stock
3 Smoked ham hocks
1 pounds Orange lentils
2 tablespoons
Chopped parsley

In a large saucepan, over medium heat, add the oil. When the oil is hot, add the onions, celery, and carrots. Season with salt and pepper. Sauté for 4 minutes. Add the garlic, bay leaves and thyme. Sauté for 1 minute. Add the ham hocks and stock. Bring the liquid to a boil, reduce the heat to medium-low and cook about 1 hour, or until the hocks are tender. Add the lentils and continue cook for 25 to 30 minutes or until the lentils are tender. Remove from the heat and stir in the parsley. Re season with salt and pepper if needed. Remove the ham hocks and remove the meat. Add the ham back into the soup. Ladle the soup into individual serving bowls and serve with crusty bread. This recipe yields 8 to 10 servings.

My notes: I prefer to cook the ham hocks first, brown in oil, then simmer in chicken broth or water on a slow simmer for about 2 or more hours until the meat is falling off the bone. Take out of water, cool a little and pull off and discard all fat,
meat will come off easily. You can shred or leave in chunks. Set covered meat aside in refer. Save the large bones. I put the broth into the refer overnight so the fat congeals on top. Skim fat off the next morning and proceed with your soup adding meat and bones. When your lentils are done, you can discard the bones.
If you are not concerned about the fat, just do as the recipe says.
I've used green lentils, with good results, as well.

Red lentil soup is one of my favourites for cold weather. My usual version is a vegetarian one, and it is largely thrown together rather than measured carefully. It can also be made with a meat stock instead of water so you could boil up the ham bones for stock first, then use that as a base for the soup. It goes something like this:

Some red lentils (about a cup and a half to two cups)
A big onion
About 500 ml chopped tomatoes or else canned chopped tomatoes
1 litre water or stock
One or two carrots, blended raw in a blender with some of the water/stock

Chop and fry the onion. Add the other ingredients. Cook over medium heat for about 3/4 hour.
Flavour the soup with ground coriander seed, ground cumin seed, ground chilli.
You can also add a couple of cloves of garlic, crushed and fried with the onion.
Add a tablespoon of tomato paste if you like it a bit more tomato-ey.

Not very fancy, but it warms you up.

Matilda

hey Carrie,

I grew up eating a lot of lentil soup, but never really learned how to make it. I think it was just basically chicken broth with lentils, onions, and usually some kind of green like escarole. I was good, but nothing special.

I haven't seen Celia in awhile around here, but I know she makes lentil soup fairly often. Karen's recipe looks really good too. GL, those ham hocks sounds wonderful! I am sure you can't go wrong with them...Let us know how it goes.

Nine times out of ten, I make it vegetarian. It is a typical Friday night first course.
I simply rinse the lentils, then put them in a pot and cover with fresh water, or vegetable stock, by a few inches. I turn on the fire, and when the liquid begins to simmer, I start adding things.
Sliced onion, some garlic, chopped up carrot, maybe a cubed potato. I usually add tomato, but you could certainly leave it out. Sometimes I put some raw pasta in towards the end, and let it cook in the soup. Other times, not. Sometimes I add greens, other times, I don't.
I like to let it get nice and thick - maybe 90 minutes of very slow simmering. When serving, I'll drizzle with some fruity olive oil, and adorn with some grated pecorino.

Every once in a while, we'll make a version using sausages. I'll build a base using a soffritto, then throw in some Italian sausage "coins" along with some chopped pancetta, and get it all good and brown. Dump out the excess grease, and proceed as with the vegetarian version. This makes a hearty and rib sticking soup.

I can't tell you the number of times I've gone from, "what the hell are we going to eat tonight?" to sitting at the table with a thick, steaming bowl of lentil soup and some bread and wine an hour and a half later.

Without lentils, I'd have likely starved to death a long time ago.

Thank you all for your input. Sounds like everyone but me has a Lentil soup throw-together in the back of their head! Wonder why my family never made them...?

Anyway, it all sounds good and there are many similarities here. I think I will follow Karen's recipe, since I don't want to leave any margin for error, and it sounds exactly like what I had in mind ingredient-wise. I also like the idea of a little Madeira ala Thomas, but don't think I have any. Would Sherry or Marsala work?

If I get home from golf in time, I'm going to make this tonight. Thanks again!

[Jenise]

Thank you all for your input. Sounds like everyone but me has a Lentil soup throw-together in the back of their head! Wonder why my family never made them...?

Mine didn't either. It was one of those things I had to leave home to discover. Oh, and sherry and Marsala would both work. You might taste what you have and decide to use whichever is the least sweet.

Dark beer. Seriously.

Dark beer. Seriously.

Are we supposed to drink the dark beer or put it in the lentil soup?

I agree with the future 2009 Mr. Montana.

Have you ever tried braised lentils? I have a great recipe that I think I posted on the petrified FLDG board. The lentils soak up all of the cooking liquid and it will stick to your ribs through 36 without a cart.

Are we supposed to drink the dark beer or put it in the lentil soup?

Yes.

I'll make it tonight and write down details.

Just following up. Karen's recipe came out great. Delicious. The only trouble I had was that I didn't measure the broth and had to keep adding more as the lentils swelled! : I ended up with tons of soup. Anyway, Len was the ultimate test since I wasn't even sure what it was supposed to taste like or what texture it should be. He said it was perfect. Thanks Karen and all for the suggestions. Stuart did you make yours?

I agree with the future 2009 Mr. Montana.

Have you ever tried braised lentils? I have a great recipe that I think I posted on the petrified FLDG board. The lentils soak up all of the cooking liquid and it will stick to your ribs through 36 without a cart.

Dave, somehow I missed your last line before. You are too funny. I'm only good for 18 when I'm "packin," anyway. You?
I have had lentils as a side dish in a restaurant (braised maybe?). I believe they were served as a base for sea bass.

[Jenise]

Dark beer. Seriously.

Are we supposed to drink the dark beer or put it in the lentil soup?

Hey, you! Do you know what, if Carrie hadn't specified "no tomatoes", I would have recommended to her your lentil soup. Or at least one that you served us part of a light soup and salad lunch on Pilot one afternoon that was made in an Italianish style with tomatoes and sausage--that, for me, is the gold standard of lentil soups.

[Jenise]

Len was the ultimate test since I wasn't even sure what it was supposed to taste like or what texture it should be.

Texture's all about your (well, or Len's ) taste. I prefer lentils when they're still whole and the soup around them's brothy. But many cook them until they fall apart and thicken the soup. (And that's good, too.)

Len was the ultimate test since I wasn't even sure what it was supposed to taste like or what texture it should be.

Texture's all about your (well, or Len's ) taste. I prefer lentils when they're still whole and the soup around them's brothy. But many cook them until they fall apart and thicken the soup. (And that's good, too.)

I would say these were in between. They definitely thickened the soup, but almost all of them stayed whole. My immersion blender comes from Amazon Wednesday or I may have blended it a bit per Karen's recipe. When I told Len that it was supposed to have been blended a little, he said he liked the lentils whole. Personally, I would like it a little blended I think.

My lentil recipe includes:

lentils, a ham bone, chopped carrots, garlic, onion, leeks, cubed potatoes, cumin, Madeira, chicken stock--all slow cooked in a large pot with a cover.

Thomas, could you give us some ingredient amounts? I know good cooks never measure, but can you approximate? Isn't it funny though how good cooks never measure, but a good baker always does

Carrie, yes I did. I'll post some pix and a recipe, if you like.

Carrie, yes I did. I'll post some pix and a recipe, if you like.

I like.

This is vegetarian. Throw in the hocks and it will be fine.
rwj

Lentil Stew with Porcini Mushrooms and Fire Roasted Tomatoes

1 cup French Green Lentils, cleaned and rinsed
1 large Carrot, diced
1 Celery Rib, diced
1 small Onion, diced
EVOO
2 or more Garlic cloves, minced
1 oz. dried Porcini Mushrooms, re-hydrated and liquid reserved
Water
1 28oz. can Fire Roasted Crushed Tomatoes (Muir Glen)
Fresh Thyme Stems, about 8, tied together with twine
S&P

Make sure that the lentils are free of small stones and then rinse them thoroughly. Set aside.

Put the porcini mushrooms in a bowl and cover them with 4 cups of boiling water. Let them re-hydrate for at least 45 minutes. The longer they re-hydrate, the more powerful and flavorful their liquid will be so don't rush this process.

In a stock pot or Dutch oven heat the EVOO over medium high to high heat. Add the carrot, celery, and onion. Gently sauté until the onion is translucent. Add the garlic and sauté for about a minute, until the garlic is fragrant. Now add the lentils, reserved porcini liquid, thyme garni, and enough water so that the lentils are covered. Cook the lentils until they have absorbed most or all of the liquid and are tender, about 45 minutes. You may need to add more water during the cooking process to get the lentils tender. Just don't make it too soupy yet.

While the lentils are cooking, roughly chop the porcini mushrooms.

When the lentils are tender add the tomatoes, porcini mushrooms and season with salt and pepper. Continue to cook until the flavors are blended. The stew should be quite thick. Now add enough water to make it the consistency you like and correct the seasoning. Remove the thyme garni. If you wish, you can blend some of the soup to make the texture slightly "creamy".

If you want, you can reduce the liquid in the stew until it becomes very thick. It can then be used as a side dish.

This keeps for days and days and just gets better. It should serve 6 easily.