One-Pot Hearty Sausage and Lentil Stew

Lentils are an ingredient that I forget about for a while, and then go in hard and eat copious amounts of them at every opportunity. They are so cheap and easy and create wonderful weeknight suppers with minimal effort - they take a bit of time, but that’s time can be well spent doing other things so don’t let that put you off. These kind of stews, or another lentil favourite of mind dhal, are great because lentils are a brilliant source of vitamins, iron, magnesium, potassium and zinc as well as being a great source of protein and fibre. At just over £1 for 500g they are a healthy bargain that should be appreciated by us all. If you want to make this veggie, this works really well with vegetarian sausages and you can simply omit the bacon.

INGREDIENTS

Serves 2-3

Time: 1hr

Difficulty level: Easy

1 packet of sausages

6 rashers of streaky bacon (optional but adds a nice smokey flavour)

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1 red onion, sliced

2 fat garlic cloves, crushed

1 stick of celery, finely chopped

1 carrot, peeled and diced

1 stock cube – chicken or vegetable (or 400ml fresh stock)

150g red split lentils

400g tin of chopped tomatoes

 Two large handfuls of kale stalks removed

1tbs fresh rosemary leaves, finely chopped

1 tsp thyme

 METHOD

1. Heat the oil in a large pan and cook the sausages until golden brown and then remove them from the pan.

2. Cook the red onion, carrot, leek for about 5 minutes or until softened. If you’re using bacon, add it to the pan and fry it for a few minutes.

3. Add the garlic, thyme and rosemary and cook for a minute to release the flavour.

4. Add the lentils and chopped tomatoes to the pan, and then fill the empty can with stock water and pour that in too. If you used water, crumble in the stock cube and give it a really good stir.

5. Season with salt and pepper, bring the pan to a simmer and give it a really good stir. Turn the heat down, pop on a lid and let it cook for about 45 minutes stirring occasionally to ensure the lentils don’t stick to the bottom of the pan. 

6. For the last five minutes, add the kale to the top of the lentils and pop the lid back on so it steams.

7. Once cooked, check the seasoning and adjust accordingly. I like to serve this with some steamed broccoli and a slice of bread with lashings of butter.

NOTES

If you want to make this veggie, you can omit the bacon and use veggie sausages. If using veggie sausages, I suggest following the instructions on the packet. Those pictured here were cooked under the grill and added at the end.