Friday, October 29, 2010

Italian Sausage and Red Lentil Stew

Anyone who knows me knows that I love food from countries starting with the letter 'I' - India, Italy and Indonesia (Ireland, you have yet to prove yourself to me.) So here is a recipe for a gorgeously fragrant, simple and hearty Italian sausage stew.



Italian Sausage and Red Lentil Stew
(Serves 4)

2 tbsp olive oil
8 Italian pork sausages
1 large onion, finely diced
1 celery stick, finely diced
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1/4 tspn toasted and crushed fennel seeds
5 sprigs of rosemary
1 tin of diced tomatoes
2 bay leaves
2/3 cup red wine
2 cups chicken (or vegetable) stock
120g red lentils

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat and brown the sausages (they don't need to be cooked through). Remove them from the pan then gently saute the onion and celery for 5 minutes. Add the garlic, fennel seeds and rosemary and saute for 1 minute.

Add the tomatoes, bay leaves, red wine, stock and some freshly cracked black pepper and bring the sauce to a boil. Add the lentils and stir the mixture well. Return the sausages, turn the heat right down to low, cover then leave the stew to cook for one hour. Stir it often to make sure the lentils don't stick to the bottom of the saucepan. If the lentils look like they're drying out, add a touch of water.

Remove the sprigs of rosemary then serve the stew with fresh crusty bread and a simple green salad.

3 comments:

The Happy Whisk said...

Hi and Happy Friday,

Over the summer I bought a groovy Irish cookbook. My husband is Irish so I wanted to get a book about Irish cooking.

I'm having fun with the cookbook.

What have you made Irish, that you weren't a fan of?

Have a great Halloween and Happy Cooking :-)

The Recipe Binder said...

What book is it? I may have to track it down...

I think the reputation of Irish food isn't that great - I expect it to be all boiled cabbages, potatoes and bits of pig. Perhaps next year I should challenge myself to shoot down the myth that Irish food is bland and stodgy?

The Happy Whisk said...

Irish Food & Cooking. Love this book. Love it, love it, love it. Watch for my upcoming post about that book and a few other good ones.

My brown bread is toasted, time for some cream cheese and homemade prune lekvar. Yum yum.

Happy Eating :-)

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