Ham Hock and Lentils

Ingredients:

Stock:

• 1 ham hock
• 1 onion
• 1 carrot
• 1 celery stalk
• 1 bay leaf
• thyme

Lentils:

• 1.5 cups lentils (I prefer French green lentils, they do not get soggy like regular lentils)
• 1 carrot
• 1 onion
• 1 celery stalk
• 1 bunch chard
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• salt & pepper to taste
• Parmesan cheese, finely grated

Directions

1. Blanching the ham hock:  place ham hock in a large saucepan, cover with cold water.  Bring to a boil and simmer for 1 minute.  Pour off the hot water, rinse with cold water.
2. Quarter the onion, break the carrot and celery into large chunks, and add to pot with ham hock, bay leaf, and thyme.  Fill with enough water to cover the hock.  Bring to a boil, cover and simmer for 2-2.5 hours.  When the hock is cooked, the small bone next to the large bone can be easily removed.  Pull hock from stock and set aside to cool.  Strain the broth.
3. Blanch the lentils by pouring boiling water over them, then rinsing in cold water.
4. In a large pot, melt butter.  Add chopped onions, carrots, celery, and chard stems.  Cover and let sit without stirring for 5 minutes.  Add lentils, 2 cups stock, and garlic.  Simmer, stirring often and adding more stock as lentils absorb the liquid for 20 minutes.
5. In the meantime, pull meat from hock.  The hock I used produced 7oz of meat.  Add meat, salt, and chopped chardleaves to the pot and simmer for 10 more minutes or until lentils are soft.
6. Serve with fresh ground pepper to taste and a tablespoon of finely grated Parmesan cheese.