Dear Leslie, bless your heart! I didn't have a ham bone, but was looking for a way to use up some ham that had been in the freezer, and decided to try your recipe with the slight modification of using 3 cups of chopped ham instead of the ham bone. I've always been a little scared of making lentil soup, I don't know why, I guess I always wondered if I could get full bodied, rich tasting soup instead of the thin stuff. This was perfect, perfect, perfect!! It's sitting on the stove now, cooling, and once it's cool enough, I'll probably refrigerate it overnight, and it will probably be even better! I actually let it simmer for 30+ minutes -- only because I love simmering soup on the stove and letting the aroma fill the house! If anyone is thinking of leaving out the marjoram, DON'T DO IT! It is the perfect flavoring for ham soups. Also be sure to skim off any of the foam that's created by simmering. Next time I'll use a ham bone, but even so, I now know there's a lentil soup out there that I can make (and freeze!) with just the ham. Thank you Leslie!
This is better than any other lentil recipe I've tried. I love the addition of the green bell pepper, and added some red in, too. I let it simmer all day and there was just a ton of flavor. Thanks for posting it!
Love this recipe! I did add a few extra things to it that worked out really well...a can of diced fire roasted tomatoes, 1 Tbs of sugar to cut the acidity, a few cups of chopped kale, some fresh diced garlic and lemon pepper for some zing. I Will definitely make this recipe again!
I made a smaller portion just for my husband I sautéed onions and carrots in Bacon Fat then deglazed the pan with white wine then followed the rest of the recipe
Tried this recipe tonight. Came out great! Used the tricolor lentils for some extra visual appeal. Red lentils faded to brown black held up nicely.
I made this last night and it was gone in about 45 minutes! Very good hearty flavorful soup. I didn't have any bullion or a spare hambone laying around so I used canned chicken broth (2 cans some water) substituted a bit of prepackaged thick-sliced ham; I also sauteed the veggies and chopped ham in a bit of butter before adding the broth and lentils. The marjoram and bell pepper really give it a good kick. Thanks Leslie! Happy to add this to my collection!
This soup is delicious!!! I loved that it was so quick and easy to make. I didn't have any marjoram but it was delicious nonetheless. My husband raved about it! This will definitely become a favorite winter dish!!
I was out of marjoram and bay leaves but used my herbs de Provence (which includes marjoram and a zillion other things) and I used up some left over ham aside from the ham bone. It's delicious!
We had a left over ham vibe from Christmas and this recipe put it to good use. I doubled the quantity but left the amount of lentils the same, and I still thought it was a ton of lentils. I wish I either used less lentils or made more broth. (I used the boullion cubes rather than canned broth add done other people did.) I omitted the celery but did add some carrots. I roasted chopped onion, red pepper, green pepper, and 3 minced garlic cloves at 375 for 20 minutes or so before adding to the soup. I loved those and wish I had made more of those and less lentils since they turned out to be so flavorful. We loved the soup, my boyfriend preferred it with cholula hot sauce! I will make again and will probably use less lentils as I mentioned above, more roasted peppers/onions/garlic, and add some hot sauce to the whole pot of soup!
Hi. I had great hopes for this soup. I do not think that it rates a 5 star rating. It was adequate. The broth was thin. Not as savory and delicious as I wanted.
