A Note Before You Start
I started with Alton Brown's recipe, but I had a ham bone that I wanted to use to create a rich broth for this soup. I also replaced 1 quart of chicken stock with beef stock. We happened to have an opened bottle of Bloody Mary Mix in the refrigerator left over from New Year's Day and I thought it would be a good addition and it is! It gave the soup some zip and I was able to use up the leftovers. Win-Win!
Ingredients
1 ham bone
1 cup of diced sweet onion
1 cup of diced carrot
1 cup diced celery
1 lb of lentils - rinsed. (I used brown lentils, but you can use green)
1 14oz can of medium diced tomatoes
1 quart of chicken stock
1 quart of beef stock
1 cup of bottled Bloody Mary Mix
2 TBSP of olive oil
1 TBSP of unsalted butter
2 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp of ground coriander
1 tsp of ground cumin
1 tsp of season salt (I use Lawrys)
1 tsp of Montreal Steak Seasoning
Water
Preparation
Step 1: Dice the carrots, celery and onion.
Step 2: Add the olive oil and butter to a large Dutch oven and heat on medium high heat. Once hot, add the diced carrots, celery, onion & salt and cook until the onions become translucent (aprox 6-7 min) stirring often.
Step 3: Add the ham bone, rinsed lentils, canned tomatoes, stock, Bloody Mary Mix, cumin and coriander. Add enough water to cover 90 % of the ham bone. Increase the heat to high and bring to a boil. Once it comes to a boil, reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer for 90 minutes.
Step 4: Carefully remove the ham bone and discard. Puree 1/3 to 1/2 of the soup with an immersion blender or very carefully in batches in a blender and add it to the remaining soup.
Lentil soup made with the broth from a corned beef is amazing!
Bill H.