Smoked Pork, Lentil and Vegetable Soup
With Simon Holst
Smoked Pork, Lentil and Vegetable Soup
Prep Time: 30 mins
Cook Time: 3 hours
Serves: 8
Cost per serve: $1.75
A smoked pork hock from a butcher's shop weighs about 1 kilogram and will give a very good, slightly smoky flavour to this really substantial soup.
Ingredients
2 Tbsp olive or canola oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
2-3 garlic cloves (optional)
1-2 cups chopped celery stalk (don't use leaves)
2 carrots, finely chopped
1 smoked bacon hock, about 1kg
3 1/2 litres (14 cups) hot water
1 cup dried soup mix
1/2 cup pearl barley
1/2 cup red lentils
1/2-1 cup freshly chopped parsley
Method
Stovetop: Heat the oil in a (very) large pot.
Add the prepared vegetables to the pan and cook over a high heat
until they soften and begin to brown.
Add the remaining ingredients, except the parsley.
Bring the mixture to the boil, then reduce the heat to a gentle
simmer, cover tightly and cook for about 3 hours, stirring
occasionally.
When the meat from the hock is completely tender, lift it out and
leave it until it is cool enough to handle.
Discard the skin and bones, etc, before cutting the meat into small
cubes and adding back to the soup.
Just before serving, stir in the chopped parsley.
Refrigerate or freeze any soup which is not eaten the day it is
cooked.
Slow cooker: Turn a large slow cooker to HIGH and heat the oil in a
large fry pan.
Add the prepared vegetables to the pan and cook over a high heat
until they soften and begin to brown, then transfer them to the
slow cooker.
Add the remaining ingredients, except the parsley.
Cover and cook for 8-10 hours on HIGH.
You may like to stir the mixture partway through cooking to make
sure that the dried grains, lentils, etc do not stuck to the bottom
of the pot.
When the hock is tender, proceed as described above.
(Broadcast 13 August 2012)
