Lentils with Ham

Today (Wednesday for me) I looked through the refrigerator and decided whatever Easter leftovers we didn't use today would have to go. Back when my boys were little I would make "Musgo" dinners..."This must go, that must go". And once in a while I would make "garbage soup" ~ the name isn't appealing but, a name like "garbage soup" appealed to my boys. The soup incorporated all the bits and pieces of leftovers into a soup that was unique each time I made it.

In the refrigerator I found some ham, a leek, 3/4 carton of chicken broth, and some garlic cheese dip. I also had 1/2 of a package of lentils in the pantry. With all these bits and pieces I put together a dish I'll just call Lentils with Ham. I take great pleasure out of making a tasty dish out of the leftovers in my refrigerator. If you've ever watched the Food Network show "Chopped" you'll know the chefs are required to make a dish out of the items in a picnic basket. The items don't seem like they'd work together, but the chefs always make it work. My "items" are not quite as odd as the ones in the chef's baskets usually are, but I hope to make them work as a palatable dish for me and for GoodMan.

Recently I purchased a rice cooker. Not one of the models that cost a couple hundred dollars, just your average rice cooker. It works wonderfully for rice, and I've used it to make Cinnamon Quinoa for breakfast. I wondered if it would work for lentils.

This is my new rice cooker ~ I love it!

 I could have easily made this in a stock pot, but I wanted to play with my new rice cooker. I'll let you know how to make it without the rice cooker as we go along.

 This is what I gathered to make the Lentils with Ham. I found a leek in the vegetable bin, an open package of chicken broth (about 24 ounces), some leftover ham slices, some garlic, and 1/2 of a package of dry lentils (about 8 ounces).

 I washed the leek and sliced it in thin strips.

 I put about 2 tablespoons of olive oil in the bottom of my rice cooker's pot and sauteed the leek until it was somewhat wilted and started to brown. If I was using a stock pot I would do this step the same way.

 I chopped 2 cloves of garlic and added them to the leek in the rice cooker's pot.

 I rinsed and drained the lentils. I always pick through them looking for stones...I think I've found one little stone in all the years I've looked for them...but I still look every time...I don't want this time to be the time the stone decides to show up.

 I chopped up the ham and added it to the pot with the leeks and garlic.

 I added the lentils.

  Then I poured in the chicken broth to cover everything. I decided to add about 1/2 teaspoon of salt, 1/4 teaspoon of cumin, 1/4 teaspoon allspice, and 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg. I love Mujadara, which is a dish with lentils and rice. It has those spices, so I figured I'd spice this like Mujadara.

At this point I closed my rice cooker and set it to cook on the "white rice" setting. If I was making this in a stock pot on the stove I would cover it and cook it on medium-low heat for about 40 minutes. I would give it a stir every 10 minutes or so. Since I used my rice cooker I didn't have to stir.

 This is how it looked when I opened the top of my rice cooker. It really smelled yummy. I've always loved lentils, ever since my grandma would make lentil soup for us. This looked and smelled maaahvelous!

 Normally I would think of putting tzatziki on top of this. Or Greek yogurt. Or even sour cream. But I had a garlic cheese dip leftover from the weekend. It consists of cream cheese, sour cream, shredded cheddar cheese and lots of garlic. I put a dollop of that on top and it worked out wonderfully. 

What was the taste tester's bottom line?
I really liked it! I went back for seconds (How bad can that be? Lentils are good for me!) 
GoodMan had a meeting that night I made this so he wasn't available to taste test. He's not a huge fan of ham, and legumes are not high on his list of favorites, but he had a dish of this when he got home from his meeting so it must have been okay even for him.

The bottom line:
My grandma was known for making delicious dishes out of leftovers. I hope I've inherited some of her "leftover genes".