Let's all pretend it's winter already!

I discovered the other day whilst acquiring sausage and bacon for biscuits and gravy, that my favorite local market's butcher counter has smoked pork hocks. Thus, it became an immediate and perfectly natural desire, to make soup with them.

So this evening, I acquired a 1 lb bag of lentils, and two of their fine pork hocks. Sprinkled the hocks with a little salt and seared them in a pan with some olive oil. Sweat off a mirepoix in the big stock pot, added about 3 or 4 cloves of garlic, toss the hocks in there, and then filled it up with water. From there, in went some fresh chopped sage, oregano, and cilantro, some Worcestershire and soy sauces, salt, pepper, paprika, cinnamon, and a single beef boullion cube. For a little extra touch, I added a healthy splash of Black Butte Porter.

Brought that to a boil, tossed in the lentils, put a lid on it, and reduced the heat to low, and let that stew for 2 hours. Once that was done, I pulled out the hocks, pried all the meat off the bones and copped that up and added it back into the pot, and also pulled out the marrow and added that too. Stir that all up, and serve, with a pint or two of Black Butte Porter of course.

Wonderful meal. Good and hearty, and pairs well with the dark beer. Makes me feel like it's wintertime again. Can't want until it actually is winter.