Lentil & Ham Soup

I hope you have all had a really good Christmas and managed to stay dry and well! My part of the world was struck by all the flooding which caused many roads to be closed and meant that my husband had to take his mother home via a 10 mile trip instead of the 2 mile one we’re used to on Christmas day. Luckily we weren’t flooded but many in the neighbourhood were and my thoughts are with them and everyone else who was struck with flooding or power cuts over Christmas.

The River Wey rose 4 meters above its normal height causing chaos locally.

I have just made this soup and thought that it was my duty to share it with you as I’m sure that there a fridges around the country heaving under the strain of all those Christmas leftovers. I had home cooked ham and stock which needed using up as well as some carrots and a huge courgette so I came up with this recipe. My husband loves lentils so I used these as the basis of this soup which tastes really good.

As this dish is made from scratch I’m entering it into Javelin Warrior’s Made with Love Mondays event and also into Credit Crunch Munch which I run with Helen at Fuss Free Flavours as it is so frugal.

5 from 6 votes

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Lentil & Ham Soup

A Lentil and Ham Soup with carrots, courgettes and a hint of curry to give a hearty winter warming soup.

Course Starter

Cuisine British

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 40 minutes

Total Time 50 minutes

Servings 8

Author Camilla

Ingredients

• 25 g Unsalted butter
• 2 Large carrots diced
• 1 Onion finely dice
• 3 Garlic cloves crushed
• 1 tbsp Rapeseed oil
• 1 Large courgette diced
• 400 g Red lentils washed
• Pinch of nutmeg
• 1 tsp Madras curry powder
• 1 Bay leaf
• 1.8 ltrs Homemade ham stock
• 200 g Cooked ham finely chopped

Instructions

1. Fry onion, carrot and garlic gently for 5 minutes in the butter.
2. Add the oil and courgette and fry gently until the vegetables are tender.
3. Add the curry powder and fry for a minute.
4. Add lentils, stock, bay leaf and nutmeg.
5. Bring to the boil and then simmer for 25 minutes.
6. Remove the bay leaf and blend half the soup to give a slightly chunky texture
7. Add the chopped ham and heat through before serving.
8. Garnish with some chopped ham if wished.

Recipe Notes

If your stock is overly salty add some water to it to dilute.

Christmas Day flooding gave rise to a lake on Boxing Day in our local park!