Ham and Lentil Soup with White Beans

This is a recipe for a healthier ham and bean soup, which is absolutely delicious!  To be completely honest, I could not get enough of this soup. The lentils and white beans add richness, fiber, healthy carbs, additional essential nutrients, and added protein to this soup. 

Over the past holiday season, I gave in and bought a bone-in, lower sodium, spiral sliced ham.  I know, I know…I hosted a brunch at our house and thought it would make a great addition to the other dishes.  To my surprise, I was able to find a ham that was low in sodium.  When the brunch was over, I gave most of the leftover ham to my guests to take home.  I was left with a little ham and the bone.  Spiral hams can be quite costly, especially when you consider that the bone is factored into the price – so I decided to make ham soup.

The soup is prepared with vegetable stock that is labeled unsalted.  You can use unsalted chicken stock if that is all you can find.  Just be sure to use only unsalted stock (not reduced or less sodium varieties) as there is enough sodium in the ham bone.  I must admit, when I made my grocery list for this soup, I was intent on buying unsalted chicken stock.  The problem happened when I got to the grocery store and found that they were completely out of unsalted chicken stock.  I stood there scanning the shelves unsure of what to do.  I noticed that they had unsalted vegetable stock, so I bought it.  What a great decision, the vegetable stock gave this soup such flavor – thank you grocery store for this one!

Enjoy!

Special note:

The first thing you need to do is trim all visible fat from the bone and from any of the ham that is on the bone.  Some fat will be left behind, but can be easily removed if you refrigerate the soup overnight after it is cooked.  The next day, the fat will congeal on the surface of the soup and you can simply take a spoon and lift it off.  This will leave you with virtually a fat-free soup.

Ham and Lentil Soup with White Beans

1  Ham bone – from a lower sodium bone-in spiral sliced ham

2  Tbls. Canola oil
2  Cups Diced sweet onion, ½ inch dice
2  Cups Diced celery and its leaves, ½ inch dice
1½ Cups Diced carrots, ½ inch dice
2  Dried bay leaves
1¼  Tsps. Dried thyme
½  Tsp. Dried oregano
¼  Tsp. Ground allspice
¼  Tsp. Ground black pepper
2  Cups Warm water
2  1-quart Containers Vegetable stock-unsalted variety (I use the brand, Kitchen Basics unsalted stock)
3  Packets Herb Ox Sodium Free Instant Broth & Seasoning – Chicken Bouillon
1  Cup Dried lentils, rinsed and drained
2  15-ounce Cans Great northern beans, drained and rinsed

Remove all visible fat from the ham bone and meat.  Cut most of the lean, tender pieces of ham off the bone and chop them into bite size pieces, about 1 ½ to 2 cups total.  Set the bone and ham pieces aside.

Over medium heat, add the oil in the bottom of a 6 – 8 quart stock pot (depending on size of ham bone).

Add the next eight ingredients and sauté until the onions are translucent, about 10 – 12 minutes.  Add the ham bone; do not add the diced ham, reserve it for use later in the recipe. 

Add the water, vegetable stock and chicken bouillon.  Bring the liquid up to a boil, and then reduce the heat to simmer.  Partially cover the pot with a lid.  Simmer on low for 40 minutes.

 

After 40 minutes, remove the ham bone and discard.  Add the lentils and beans to the soup.  Simmer another 35 minutes, or until the lentils are tender.  Once tender, turn off the heat, remove the bay leaves, and add the diced ham.  Serve this soup hot (or see special note above).

You can serve this soup with a slice of crusty bread, and/or a side salad.

Vegetable Beef Soup with Barley and Lentils

Both my mother and grandmother would make big pots of soup in the winter.  The aroma of cooking soup would fill the house for hours.  After great anticipation, the soup was finally on the table…so satisfying.

I love homemade vegetable beef soup; the canned variety never quite made it for me.  It is the one soup that you can add almost any vegetable you want and will not be disappointed.  It is my experience that root vegetables hold up much better in the cooking process. If at the end of the cooking process you feel that you still need more vegetables, add some frozen mixed vegetables and continue to cook until the frozen veggies are tender.

Cabbage is a staple in any vegetable beef soup I make.  In this recipe I use just regular cabbage; it retains some of its firmness to the very end.  In the past, for a change-up, I used savoy cabbage and found it to be just as good.  Savoy cabbage has a milder flavor and becomes very tender when cooked.  Whatever you do, do not eliminate the cabbage. If you are not very fond of eating cabbage, simply quarter the cabbage, leaving the core intact.  You can then simply remove the quarters when ready to serve.  I have made vegetable beef soup without cabbage, but always came away feeling that ‘something is missing.’

I use beef marrow bones in this recipe because of the flavor and richness they add.  However, I do not scoop the marrow out of the bones and put it in the soup, as it contains a large amount of fat.  I buy long bones so the marrow stays in the bone during the cooking process.  When the soup is done, I remove the bones, with the marrow intact and discard it all.

You can serve this soup with or without noodles.  I used a pastina variety, but feel free to use whatever noodle you like.  However, do not cook the noodles in the soup; always cook on the side and spoon into the bowls at the time of serving.

This soup tends to get better with age.  You can prepare the soup a day ahead, cover and store it in the refrigerator and serve the next day.  One advantage of preparing this soup the day before is that any fat in the soup will accumulate and harden on the surface.  This will allow you to simply spoon it out before you reheat it; doing this will make it healthier.

Finally (can you tell how much I love this soup)…Enjoy!

Vegetable Beef Soup with Barley and Lentils

Makes 8 – 10 Servings (more or less depending on your serving size)

2 Tbls. Canola oil

1 Lb. Lean beef stew meat, cut into ½ to ¾ inch pieces; all visible fat removed
2 Soup bones – about 1 pound total (can be found in the meat counter, or ask the butcher)
1 Tbls. Mrs. Dash, Original Blend, Seasoning Blend
¼ Tsp. Ground allspice
½ Tsp. Ground pepper
1 Cup Sweet onion, chopped
2 Garlic cloves, chopped fine
3 Dry bay leaves
Fresh thyme leaves; removed from about 4 stems
1 Quart cold water
2 One-Quart containers of Beef stock, fat free and no-salt added
2 Packets Herb Ox Beef Bouillon, salt-free
½ Tsp. Kosher salt
1 Lb. Carrots; cut in ½ inch rounds
1 ½ Cups Kohlrabi (about 5 small); peeled and stems removed – cut into ½ inch pieces
4-5 Stalks Celery, taken from the outer part of the bunch; cut into ½ inch pieces
Additionally – use the celery stalks and leaves from the inter-most part of the bunch; chopped fine
3 Cups Sliced cabbage (small head of cabbage, about 1 pound); core removed and sliced into about 1 inch x ¼ inch pieces
½ Cup Uncooked barley; rinsed
1 (6-ounce) Can Tomato paste (or 5 tablespoons if using the tube variety)
¾ Cup Uncooked lentils, rinsed
Additional Salt and Pepper to taste

Place oil in a 6 – 8 quart stock pot and heat (over medium heat).  Add stew meat, Mrs. Dash, allspice and ground pepper; mix to coat.  Add the soup bones and cook on medium heat until meat browns on all sides, and turn the soup bones to cook on each side.  Once the meat is browned, add onions, garlic, bay leaves and thyme; mix together with the meat and cook for about 5 more minutes; mix often taking care not to burn the onions and garlic.

Add the water, beef stock, beef bouillon, and salt; bring to a boil.  Cover and turn heat down to a slow simmer.  Simmer for 1 ½ hours.

Add the carrots, kohlrabi, celery and celery leaves, sliced cabbage, barley, and tomato paste. (You may need to remove the soup bones now to make room for all the vegetables, if not, keep them in until just before you add the lentils.)  Simmer for an additional 1 hour, or until vegetables are just tender. 

Remove soup bones, if you have not done so already, and discard.  Add lentils and cook another 30 minutes, making sure both the barley and lentils are tender.  Add salt and pepper to taste and serve.

You can serve this with your favorite noodle or short cut pasta.  For that special touch (and flavor), you can add your favorite herb flavored crostini or croutons on the top of each bowl of soup.

Store leftover soup covered in the refrigerator, for up to 4 days.