Recipe: Le Puy lentil and sausage braise
This was a winner! A recipe I made up, influenced by this Warm French lentil salad.
A luxurious, wintry cross between braised sausages and a French lentil salad. Sausage drippings make it rich and silky; balsamic and Dijon make it bright and piquant. Lentils without a whiff of virtue about them!
(Vegetarian options: without the sausages, this is still a very nice lentil casserole. Obv. use veggie stock not chicken. Or if wanting a sausage equivalent, try vegetarian sausages or some other firm vegetarian protein, sliced and added only for the last 10-15 min of cooking. Hmm, or maybe sliced mushrooms could be added and sauteed when the aromatic veggies are nearly soft?)
olive oil
500g (1 pk of 6) pork and sage sausages* - or any other sausage you fancy
1 onion, diced
6 cloves garlic, finely diced or crushed
2 celery sticks, diced
2 carrots, diced
1/2 cup red wine
1 tin (400g) crushed tomatoes
2 cups chicken stock
1 cup water, plus extra if required
1 cup Le Puy green lentils, sorted to remove foreign matter, and rinsed**
2 large bay leaves
2 Tb balsamic vinegar or to taste
2 heaped tsp Dijon mustard
salt and pepper to taste
parsley, chopped, to taste
In a large, heavy-bottomed pot, fry sausages over medium-high heat in a little oil, turning until brown on all sides. Remove to a heatproof plate and set aside.
In the sausage drippings***, still on medium-high heat, fry the onion, celery, carrot and garlic, stirring frequently, until onion is translucent. While this is going on, slice the sausages thinly, using heatproof chopping board and tongs.
When vegetables are ready, add wine and deglaze (scrape up any burnt bits off the bottom), turn heat up high and let bubble until liquid reduced by half.
Add tomatoes, stock, 1 cup water, lentils, bay leaves, and the sliced sausages and any further drippings***, and stir well. Bring to the boil, then cover and simmer for 50 - 70 minutes, stirring several times throughout cooking and adding a little extra water if getting dry, until lentils are tender and mixture is thick. Add vinegar, mustard, salt, pepper and parsley, stir, and simmer 5 minutes more.
Possible sides: pasta tossed in butter, lemon juice and parsley (I did this. Nom.). Or crusty bread and a green salad.
* Coles supermarket called these Cumberland sausages, which doesn't sound legit. They were delicious though.
** You could use brown lentils, but they will come out mushier. Also cooking time and amount of water needed may change, so monitor the simmering phase carefully.
*** You could partially/wholly pour the drippings out and discard (replace with a little olive oil if wholly discarding), for a healthier result. But the drippings do give the dish a gorgeous texture and richness.
x-posted at Dth with
comments. Comment wherever you like (scraps of paper posted in the tree outside your house may not be received right away).
A luxurious, wintry cross between braised sausages and a French lentil salad. Sausage drippings make it rich and silky; balsamic and Dijon make it bright and piquant. Lentils without a whiff of virtue about them!
(Vegetarian options: without the sausages, this is still a very nice lentil casserole. Obv. use veggie stock not chicken. Or if wanting a sausage equivalent, try vegetarian sausages or some other firm vegetarian protein, sliced and added only for the last 10-15 min of cooking. Hmm, or maybe sliced mushrooms could be added and sauteed when the aromatic veggies are nearly soft?)
olive oil
500g (1 pk of 6) pork and sage sausages* - or any other sausage you fancy
1 onion, diced
6 cloves garlic, finely diced or crushed
2 celery sticks, diced
2 carrots, diced
1/2 cup red wine
1 tin (400g) crushed tomatoes
2 cups chicken stock
1 cup water, plus extra if required
1 cup Le Puy green lentils, sorted to remove foreign matter, and rinsed**
2 large bay leaves
2 Tb balsamic vinegar or to taste
2 heaped tsp Dijon mustard
salt and pepper to taste
parsley, chopped, to taste
In a large, heavy-bottomed pot, fry sausages over medium-high heat in a little oil, turning until brown on all sides. Remove to a heatproof plate and set aside.
In the sausage drippings***, still on medium-high heat, fry the onion, celery, carrot and garlic, stirring frequently, until onion is translucent. While this is going on, slice the sausages thinly, using heatproof chopping board and tongs.
When vegetables are ready, add wine and deglaze (scrape up any burnt bits off the bottom), turn heat up high and let bubble until liquid reduced by half.
Add tomatoes, stock, 1 cup water, lentils, bay leaves, and the sliced sausages and any further drippings***, and stir well. Bring to the boil, then cover and simmer for 50 - 70 minutes, stirring several times throughout cooking and adding a little extra water if getting dry, until lentils are tender and mixture is thick. Add vinegar, mustard, salt, pepper and parsley, stir, and simmer 5 minutes more.
Possible sides: pasta tossed in butter, lemon juice and parsley (I did this. Nom.). Or crusty bread and a green salad.
* Coles supermarket called these Cumberland sausages, which doesn't sound legit. They were delicious though.
** You could use brown lentils, but they will come out mushier. Also cooking time and amount of water needed may change, so monitor the simmering phase carefully.
*** You could partially/wholly pour the drippings out and discard (replace with a little olive oil if wholly discarding), for a healthier result. But the drippings do give the dish a gorgeous texture and richness.
x-posted at Dth with
comments. Comment wherever you like (scraps of paper posted in the tree outside your house may not be received right away).