Happy New Year Everyone! I just wanted to say a thank you for all of your incredible support in 2011 and let you know how very much I’m looking forward to a delicious 2012!
I have a really good feeling that 2012 is going to be a special year.
And in the spirit of a fresh and exciting new year, I am going to try to start fresh with my body too.
Lets just say that things have gotten a little out of control over the holidays. I mean, my jeans look more like sausage casing than pants. I have got to get a grip and get healthy again!
So that’s what it’s going to be all about around here for the month of January. Healthy recipes and healthy living!
Please let me know what kind of healthy recipes you are interested in this month and I will do my best to create as many as I can.
This first recipe of 2012 is a hearty, healthy and very flavorful soup. Vegetables and smoked ham hock flavor the red lentils which make this soup so thick.
This red lentil soup is packed with fiber and vitamins and one bowl will keep you full for ages!
Red Lentil Soup with Ham , serves 12
2 lbs smoked ham hock
1 Tbs olive oil
2 cups onion, small diced
2 cups carrots, small diced
2 cups celery, small diced
2 cups dry white wine
8 cups chicken stock
12 oz dried red lentils, rinsed thoroughly and drained
2 tsp dried cumin
2 tsp smoked paprika
Kosher salt
Heat a large heavy pot over medium-high heat. Add the ham hock and let it sear in the pot for a few minutes.
Add the oil and let it melt with the ham hock.
Add the vegetables to the pot and sprinkle them with Kosher salt.
Stir the vegetables with the oil and let them sweat until soft and tender, about 10 minutes
Add the white wine and scrape any browned bits off of the bottom of the pot.
Add the chicken stock and bring to a simmer. Add the lentils.
Cover the soup with a lid and let the soup simmer about 30 minutes until the lentils are fluffy and tender.
Remove the ham hock from the soup and cut off the lean meat and add it back to the soup. Discard the rest of the ham bone and skin.
Season with the cumin, paprika and Kosher salt.
Serve Hot and Enjoy!
Happy New Year! This sounds great! I love lentil soup.
Looks yummy! And I’m all for trying out new and healthy recipes. Chicken and seafood recipes would be great.
I made your Clam Pot recipe last night (I’ve made it several times) and it’s always a big hit! One of my ‘go to’ recipes. Happy New Year.
That is so great Christy! Happy New Year!
This looks absolutely amazing!
Happy New Year and best wishes to you and your family . This looks incredible! My problem is, with wonderful recipes such as this, how to convert to meatless without losing flavor.
I think this would still be great without the meat Vicki!
this sounds SO delicious…i need more soup in my life!
our windchill is 22 here today……I need this in my belly!! Looks delicious Heather!
I love lento soup. Perfect for January!
Lentils are so hearty and filling. One of the many reasons why I love eating them!
Lentils and ham!? I’m in!
This is a beautiful soup! I feel ya’ on the pants. Whoa. Boy does that holiday food catch up to you fast. I’m excited to see what other recipes you’ve got this month!
Thanks Krista!
I love ham in my split pea and lentil soups. Such a comforting flavor!
Definitely needing nutrient dense recipes this month and this one fits the bill!!
Happy New Year to you and yours!
Lovely photos! This is the kind of soup I’d be happy to eat everyday for lunch. Happy New Year to you!
Thanks Dara! Happy New year to you too!
Heather, where do you usually find ham hocks? Do you have to ask the butcher? I never see this along the meat area? And what kind of wine do you use usually?
Thanks!
Hi Tina- they should be in the pork section. If they are not, just ask the butcher- they always have them in the back. I just use whatever left over white wine I have, which is almost always sauvignon blanc.
Happy New Year! This looks great. Looking forward to every post this month!!
Thanks so much!!!!! 🙂
Lentils are super healthy and inexpensive, too. Always important in January to be economical as we pay off the holiday splurges!
Making this AGAIN. Thank you oh thank you for posting this wonderful yumminess!
love me the lentil soup!! i had it for the first time only 10 years ago. never looked back! thanks for sharing the recipe! 🙂
Do you need to soak the lentils first and for how long? Thanks!
Nope- you can just add them (but I do recommend rinsing them)
Dear Heather,
Lovely soup recipe! Going to make it today. I have joined a Biggest Loser program. Do you have any idea on the calories per serving, etc….? Your website is wonderful. Going to spread the word! Do you have a FB account? Thanks so much.
Sincerely,
Susan
Thank you Susan- so glad that you are here!! I don’t know the calories unfortunately! But Lentils are packed with fiber and protein.
You can find me on Facebook at Heather Christo
It’s on the stove simmering as I type! I must confess, i snuck a taster! yummy! didn”t have any wine, which is weird….but taste great!
This is delicious. Thank you so much for the recipe!
Is there a way to make this in a pressure cooker? My mom used to make something similar with a smoked ham hock but with peas and with potatoes too (German style, I think). There were 9 kids in the family so it had to be done in a hurry so she used her Presto Pressure cooker and it was delicious! Sadly she is gone and I think that it would be equally good using (green) lintels (because that is what is in the pantry) in place of peas would be delicious and high in fibre. Ham hocks are no longer the bargain that I remember from my youth when we could pick one up cheap from a German-Canadian sausage maker at our weekend market. They too seem to have all disappeared! None seemed to have come to Canada since the fall of the wall (1989) to replace those that have retired or passed away.
I used an Instant Pot and it worked great. I set the pressure setting for 60 minutes and let it sit depressurizing for close to an hour. My ham hock was frozen solid when I started. At the end the meat fell off the bone.
I cooked the recipe exactly. You never stated pre-cooked ham hocks or not. 10 minutes was not enough for raw ham hocks. My entire family got sick because of uncooked pork.
Gee Jeff maybe when you read a recipe you should get what the recipe calls for, in this case ham hocks not raw pork, ham is precooked, smoked, not raw.
I made this tonight and it is DELICIOUS! I had peruses a few lentil recipes that included ham and was very excited to see the white wine in yours. It really makes the flavor. I only had a half lb of smokemaster deli ham that I cubed and I added a can of Pettit diced tomatoes but YUMMMM. Thanks!!
I made this soup today and I give it a definite 10+!!!!!
I didn’t use white wine and I cut the liquid down to 6 cups of chicken broth and 1 cup of water. I’m thinking 3 more cups of liquid would have made the soup too liquidy.
This is the second red lentil recipe I’ve tried recently and am so happy with them that I highly doubt I will ever use brown lentils again.
Thanks for a great recipe!!!!
Really tough when you have so many pop up ads and you cannot PRINT the recipe. I’m going to a lentil soup recipe I CAN print. Please try to make it easier to print your recipes thanks Happy New Year!