Tastes Even Better Than It Looks!

My apologies to the vegetarians, but whenever I think of ham, I think,“Not just food, but the best food of all!” That's not just me talking. It's a memorable line from Thomas Cahill’s How the Irish Saved Civilization.

Cahill describes a 5th century scene where St. Patrick and his companions are near starvation. Patrick recommends a prayer for food. A moment later a herd of pigs comes stampeding toward them. "Not just food..."

I happen to also be a big fan of lentil soup. So a combination of ham and lentils is irresistible. My eternally lovely and talented wife found a way to make the combination even more irresistible. Below is her own fairly easy and very flavorful ham and lentil soup. The trick might be acquiring a ham bone. The surest way is to purchase a ham and eat most of what surrounds the bone. A small piece of ham might work nearly as well. A ham hock would probably be good too.


Mary K's Ham and Lentil Soup


Ingredients:

1 meaty ham bone
1 1/4 cup lentils, rinsed and picked over (and Mary K can really pick over a lentil!)
1 medium onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 can diced tomatoes with liquid
1 cup carrots, sliced
2 peperoncini peppers (Tuscan peppers,or sweet Italian peppers, etc. Mary K actually uses the peppers included with a Papa John's pizza.)
1 large OR 2 small bay leaves
1 quart of water

Combine all of these ingredients in a large soup pot. Bring to boil. Lower heat and simmer one hour, or until lentils become tender. Remove ham bone and trim ham from bone into soup. Remove peppers if desired before serving.

Makes about 8 cups.