Lentil bean soup

One Sunday, a while back, I had grand plans of making a Thai chicken for dinner, but later in the day, I didn’t have the energy to go to the store and get the chicken. I ended up just pulling a leftover ham bone out of the fridge, and making soup. When all else fails, you can always make soup.

I didn’t have a whole pound of lentils, so I supplemented it with a can of beans. As I recall, it turned out pretty good. Here’s what I did.

Olive oil

2 medium onions

1/2 cup chopped carrot

1 cup of chopped celery

1 red bell pepper

1 ham bone with meat

12 oz. red lentils

Water (I don’t know, maybe 3 quarts) 1/2 tsp. cumin

1 tsp. cajun seasoning

1 tsp. thyme

1/4 tsp. ground cayenne

1 15 oz. can cannellini beans Louisiana Hot Sauce

Salt and pepper

Preparation

Heat a large soup pot and add enough olive oil to coat the bottom. Add the onions, celery, carrots and bell pepper, and let that cook until the onions have softened, about five minutes. Add the cumin, cajun seasoning, thyme and cayenne pepper. Stir and add the ham bone.

Add the water. Now please don’t nag me. I don’t measure how much water I added. I brought the pot to the sink and added ‘enough’ water. This isn’t rocket science, it’s soup. Add water.

Bring the water to a boil. While it’s coming to a boil, sort and rinse the lentils and add those to the soup. Let the soup simmer for about forty five minutes and add the canned beans. (Cannellini beans are a fancy name for beans similar to navy beans.) Let that cook, stirring often for about another hour. You want to leave the lid slightly ajar so the soup can thicken a little. Add a bunch of Louisiana Hot Sauce and adjust for salt and pepper. Give it a final taste and it's ready to serve.

Serving

When I serve lentil or bean soup, I like to keep things simple. I had a large bowl of soup (ok, your right, I had three large bowls) along with sliced homemade bread and butter. I also had a bowl of carrot sticks, celery sticks, sliced cucumber and broccoli pieces to nibble on with the soup. I washed it all down with some red wine.