Lovely legumes

It's Sunday, which means it must be time for another recipe, eh? Last night was chilly with a hint of the snow flurries to come so I decided to make something hearty and rib-sticking. Since it was just Morgann and me I could cook something with legumes in it - Les and the three youngest are not big fans of beans, peas, lentils and the like, but Morgann and I are, so they tend to get cooked into recipes on Saturday nights when Les is at work and the three kidlets are at their dad's.

I looked around in the pantry, fridge and freezer and came up with the following. Partly because I had six chicken wings in the freezer for reasons I still don't understand. I don't remember buying them, and I don't really like wings by themselves. Partly because I have a bunch of leftover ham from Thanksgiving to use up (some more is going in scalloped potatoes tonight). I've seen similar recipes in various cookbooks, but I just "winged it" on my own (pun intended). Anyway, it turned out good.

Ingredients

• 1 lb bag dried lentils
• 6 (or so) chicken wings (thighs or legs would be good, too)
• 4 oz ham, diced small
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 large carrots, diced
• 2 stalks celery including leaves, diced fine
• 4 oz fresh mushrooms, quartered
• 8 cloves garlic, minced
• ¼+ cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 15 oz can chicken stock
• 1 15 oz can diced tomatoes and green chilies (do not drain)
• ½ cup white wine
• salt
• pepper
• 1 tsp cumin seed

Directions

Soak the lentils for 6-8 hours (probably not strictly necessary, but you'd have to increase the cooking time otherwise, and possibly the liquid in the recipe as well). Rinse and drain the lentils. Preheat oven to 350°. Snip the worthless ends off the chicken wings and discard.

In a 6 ½ qt Dutch oven fry the wings on both sides in the olive oil until the skin gets crisp and starts to turn a little brown. Set wings aside. Then sauté the garlic, onions and carrots in the oil until the onions start getting soft. Mix in the celery and mushrooms and cook just a bit longer. Stir in the white wine to deglaze the bottom of the pan. Remove from heat. Stir in the ham, lentils, tomatoes, chicken stock and spices. The liquid should not be enough to make the whole thing "soupy", but should come up to just under the top level of all the ingredients. Press the fried wings down into the mix around the edge of the Dutch oven. Cook covered in the oven for at least an hour (I ended up going 70 minutes). Serve with a baguette or other crusty bread.

Makes lots. Would easily serve six.