Yesterday was cold. And wet. And slushy. And so, as you can imagine, I had very little interest in trekking over to the grocery store in search of ingredients for dinner. So I poked through my cupboard, and came up with a bag of lentils. In the refrigerator, I found some carrots, celery, and garlic, an onion, and a ham hock that I picked up a couple of days ago at Schaller & Weber.
Those, fortunately, would be the ingredients for the easiest-ever lentil soup.
In the past, my lentil soup has been a little hit-or-miss, mostly because my oven is a 300-year-old evil ogre that enjoys transforming things that need to be cooked for a long time on low heat into a smoking, charred mess…but now, with the arrival of my trusty slow-cooker, there is absolutely no chance of screwing it up.
What you need:
1 bag lentils
A handful of baby carrots, chopped
1 onion, chopped
A couple of celery stalks, chopped
3 garlic cloves, chopped (or just some garlic powder)
1 ham hock
1/4 tsp oregano
1 bay leaf
Squeeze of lemon
About 6 cups chicken broth
What you do:
1. Combine all ingredients in slow cooker; let cook on low 7 or 8 hours. Add more broth if it starts looking too thick for your taste.
2. Remove ham hock skin, fat, and bone. Shred meat (if there are any largeish chunks) and season to taste with salt & pepper before serving. You can puree it in batches if you like a smoother consistency.
That’s it.
Really.
Enjoy!
(This can easily be transformed into a vegan soup by leaving out the ham hock and substituting vegetable broth for chicken broth.)
