hearty ham & lentil soup
This makes the perfect soup for leftover ham after the holidays. Serve steaming bowls of the soup with crusty bread for those chilly nights. The soup freezes well up to 3 months.
Servings: 6
Ingredients
- 1 leek, trimmed, thinly sliced & washed
- 1 1/2 cups diced carrot
- 1 1/2 cups diced rutabaga (swede)
- 1 1/2 cups diced turnips
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 6 cups chicken stock
- 3 tablespoons tomato paste
- 2 teaspoons cracked black pepper
- 1 ham bone
- 2 cups roughly chopped ham
- 15 oz can brown lentils, rinsed & drained (425g)
- 3 handfuls finely shredded kale
- shaved parmesan cheese, fried onions & warm baguette to serve, optional
Instructions
- Combine leek, carrot, rutabaga, turnips, garlic, stock, tomato paste & pepper in a pot or Dutch oven.
- Add the ham bone. Cover & bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 1 1/4 hours. Remove the ham bone. Cut off any ham off the bone, chop it & add it to the pot.
- Add the other 2 cups of chopped ham (if you have lots of ham left on the bone, you might not need 2 cups of extra ham but I just had a small ham bone so I added more). Add lentils & stir to combine. Cook for 5 minutes until hot.
- Add kale & stir for 30 seconds or until just wilted.
- Ladle the soup into heated bowls. Top with parmesan & onions. Serve with torn warm baguette. Serves 6.