Submitted by Cyndee Sindelar

About the cook: I've been an enthusiastic home cook for over 40 years! My first creations were in my Easy Bake Oven, then I graduated to making scrambled eggs and toast, at eight years old. Before long, I was making pot roasts, seafood dishes, and Duck a l'Orange. Exploring foods from around the world has also been exciting, as has putting my own touches to dishes, and coming up with my own special creations.

About the dish: In the Czech Republic, many restaurants stay open until the wee hours of the morning after the changing of the New Year, but offer a limited menu. The offering usually includes a lentils dish, since lentils represent luck and wealth. Like a breakfast hash, the lentil portion can be made the day before and quickly reheated and topped with a freshly cooked egg. The recipe below includes small diced ham with vegetables and herbs. It can easily be made vegetarian with just a couple changes.

National Origin: Czech

Serves: 4

Estimated Time: 30 to 60 Minutes

Ingredients:

1 cup dried brown lentils, inspected, rinsed, and drained
2 1/4 cups chicken or vegetable broth
1 medium onion, chopped
1 small bay leaf
1/4 cup chopped green pepper
1/4 tsp salt
2 Tbs chopped fresh parsley, plus more for garnish
1/4 tsp dried oregano or marjoram
1/2 cup chopped lean ham or Canadian bacon
4 to 8 eggs, poached, sunny side up, or fried as you like

Preparation:

Add lentils to a medium pot with broth, onion, bay leaf, green pepper, and salt. Bring to a boil and simmer, covered, for 20 mins.

Add herbs and chopped ham to the pot and simmer 5-10 minutes more, or until lentils are tender, but not mushy.

On each of 4 plates, put a pile of the cooked lentil mixture topped with 1 or 2 cooked eggs. Garnish with parsley and freshly ground pepper.

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