Lentil Soup

1. Place all ingredients in a large, heavy bottomed pot. Add water and/or stock to cover again as high as the lentils come in the pot (if the lentils are two inches deep, the water should come four inches up the side). Simmer three hours; remove onion, carrot, bay leat and ham hock. Strip skin and fat from ham hock, remove meat from bone, chop coarsely, and return to pot. Simmer several hours more partially covered until lentils are thick and brown.
2. Cook diced bacon until browned, but not crisp. Drain off fat; add to the pan the diced vegetables and saute briefly, just to mix. Add the bacon and vegetables to the soup, and cook an additional half hour until flavors mingle but vegetables aren't over-cooked.