Lentils are a component that you need in your menu. They’re easy to make, nutritious and so delicious! This sausage and lentil stew is extremely good, with the sausages adding a ton of flavour to the dish. They’re perfect to cook large batches and then freeze what you’re not having. That way it’s an emergency stock of ready-made food to avoid ordering in.
Here on the blog there’s already a lentil stew recipe that you guys make a lot, which is my super tasty lentils. That recipe leans more towards tomatoey flavours and is actually vegan! This sausage and lentil stew, on the other hand, has the addition of sausages which of course adds a delicious spin. Back in my mom’s house, she used to add bacon to the lentils all the time. But I always felt that the smokiness of the bacon was too overpowering. In the end I was always unable to finish a whole bowl of smoky lentils. Howeeeever, I love it with sausage. It adds that extra flavour punch without every it of the lentils having that element. Both of my recipes are finished with spinach because I love that last minute green addition. However, you can swap it for kale or your favourite greens.
I originally wrote this recipe for a magazine here in Chile, revista ED, at the start of quarantine. They printed an edition with recipes that use easy to fin ingredients. Even though this recipe has simple ingredients, they have SO MUCH FLAVOUR. Apart from this recipe, they also published my wholewheat bread loaf and my lemon shrimp pasta with basil.
For this recipe in particular I used 5mm diameter lentils. They tend to come apart in the cooking process a bit more than the 3mm ones. You can choose either according to what you like :). I always recommend to soak the lentils before cooking. This simple process reduces the cooking time and also makes them easier to digest. However, you can cook them straight without soaking if time’s an issue. They’re the only pulses that don’t need soaking overnight.
Ingredients
For the vegetable stock
- 150 g carrots cut in medium pieces
- 150 g celery stalk cut in medium pieces
- 150 g brown onion cut in medium pieces
- 1 bayleaf
- 3 lt water
For the lentils
- 2 pork sausages
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 bayleaves
- 200 g red onion finely chopped
- 1 tbsp paprika
- 2 garlic cloves pressed, finely grated or minced
- 150 ml red wine
- 2 small carrots, cut in small cubes
- 200 g lentils I used 5mm lentils
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 60 g baby spinach without the stem
- 1 lt vegetable stock
Instructions
For the stock
- Place the ingredient in a large pot and let it simmer for 30 minutes over medium-low heat.
For the lentils
- Soak the lentils for at least 1 hour. This helps to reduce the cooking time and makes them easier to digest.
- Slice the sausage in 5mm thick slices and cook it on a preaheated pot, preheated over medium-low heat. You don't need to add oil. Once golden on both sides, remove them and reserve.
- Add the olive oil, bayleaf, paprika and onion to the pan and cook everything until the onion is translucent and smelling sweet.
- Add the garlic and cook it for one minute, mixing the whole time.
- Add the red wine and let it evaporate almost completely so that the final result doesn't turn out acidic.
- Add the lentils and carrots as well as the stock. Stir. Up until this point we haven't added any salt because it makes pulses go hard, always add them at the end.
- Once it breaks into a boil, lower the heat until you only see a slight simmer so they can cook slowly. Cover the pot.
- After an hour, taste the lentils. If they're ready, you can turn off the heat. If they have too much liquid still, you can let it simmer with the lid off until you get the desired consistency.
- Adjust the level of salt, add pepper, the sausages, the spinach and serve immediately. It's always best to add the spinach right before serving to keep them green.
2 comments
Your recipe looks great. What type of paprika do you use?
Hi Darbie! Sweet paprika 🙂