Sausage & Lentils
This recipe takes me back to university. My closest friend from school made this for me once, and I’ve been making my own version ever since. It’s a heavy meal, but ‘tis the season! As the cold weather approaches, I’m all about hearty and warm meals. This sausage and lentil dish is perfect for a cozy Sunday night dinner.
It’s also a one pot wonder, which is my favourite these days! Having a toddler, I don’t have a lot of time for making meals or washing dishes. I’m all about the simple meals these days. For this recipe, the only real essentials are some lentils and any kind of sausage. For the rest, you can make do with what you have. I’ll tell you what ingredients go into my dish, but you can modify as needed.
Ingredients:
4 sausages - any kind will do, but I use toulouse
2 small (or one medium) yellow onions - halved and sliced lengthwise
1 leek - chopped into 1/2 inch rounds
2 fat cloves of garlic - finely diced or grated
1.5 cups of green lentils (you could also use French lentils)
3-4 cups of broth (any kind is fine)
1/4 tsp cumin
1-2 tsp of white wine vinegar
3/4 cup of chopped tuscan kale
Salt and pepper to taste
Method:
I like to make this on the stove in a large, deep pan with a tight fitting lid. Start by heating some oil over medium-low heat. Cut your onion(s) in half and then slice them into thin slices lengthwise. Add the onions to the pot and cook, stirring fairly frequently, until they are caramelized. This can take 10-15 minutes, so be patient. It pays off to wait for them to slowly brown and caramelize, because it adds a soft sweetness to the dish. Once your onions are caramelized, add your leeks, garlic, cumin, about 1 tsp of salt (less if your broth has salt!) and a few dashes of pepper. Saute for about 3 minutes.
Next, add the lentils and the broth. Start with 3 cups of broth, but you may want to add more later if you find that the broth is absorbing faster than the lentils are cooking. Once you’ve added your lentils and broth, bring to a boil and then reduce to medium-low heat and cover the pot. Let the lentils cook for about 10-15 minutes.
After 15 minutes, add your sausages. If you like, you can sear the sausages before you add them to the pan, but if you’re pressed for time (like I often am) you can just put them right in the pot. Close up the pot again and let the lentils and sausages cook together for about 20-25 minutes on medium-low heat. In the meantime, chop the kale.
Once your lentils have absorbed the broth and the sausage is cooked through, add the kale to the pot and stir. It will take about 5 minutes to wilt. At the same time, add 1-2 teaspoons of white wine vinegar (lemon juice is good too!) and salt and pepper to taste if you feel like it still needs seasoning.
Garnish with dijon mustard and enjoy!
