Puy Lentils with Sausages and Crisp Cheese Topping
Total Prep and Cooking Time: Approximately 1 hour all in
Active Time: 20-30 minutes
Serves: 4, generously (Family meal or 2 meals for 2 - Freeze half in single portion containers)
Vegetarian: No
Ingredients:
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 8 pork sausages
- 2 medium onions, peeled and sliced
- 4 cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced
- 4 tablespoons tomato puree
- Half a bottle gutsy red wine (Cabernet Sauvignon is good)
- 250g Puy Lentils
- 1 litre water
- 30g butter
- 100g fresh breadcrumbs
- 100g grated cheddar cheese
- 1 small bunch of parsley, leaves only, finely chopped
- Salt, freshly ground black pepper, sugar and nutmeg (optional)
Method:
- Place the sliced onions and garlic into a large, shallow pan with the vegetable oil, cover and then sweat for 5 minutes until soft
- Turn up the heat, add the sausages, fry for 2 minutes then add the tomato puree and fry for 2 minutes until it all smells wonderfully roasted
- Transfer the sausages to a plate, add the red wine to the pan, bring to the boil then boil for 6-7 minutes until the wine has reduced by half
- Add the Puy lentils and water. Bring to the boil, boil for 10 minutes then turn down the heat
- Loosely cover with a lid and simmer for 20 minutes, add the sausages, put the lid back on but leave it slightly ajar, then simmer for 10 minutes more. Turn off the heat, leave to sit for 5 minutes then stir in the butter and season to taste with salt, pepper and nutmeg
- Preheat your grill
- Mix the cheese, breadcrumbs and parsley together then sprinkle the mixture over the top of the sausages and lentils
- Grill for 3-5 minutes until golden. (Grills vary enormously so keep an eye on the top, golden quickly goes black)
Prep Ahead: The whole dish can be prepared at least a day in advance up to the point of putting the breadcrumbs on the top. Gently heat through, in the microwave or oven and don’t stir too much at the start so as not to break up the lentils. The cooked lentils freeze very well, so why not make twice the recipe; I have used the same lentil mixture to make both lasagne and moussaka.
KIDS CORNER
Although there is wine in this dish, all of the alcohol is boiled off early on. This was a great meal. So much so that it is worth thinking about different options to serve with the lentils for kids and also keeping this as a standby. For the tiny and toothless just puree the lentils and it is a smashing success. For those with a few teeth, simply crush the lentils a little.
