Week 20: Sausage and lentils

Cumberland sausage with red wine, rosemary and lentils

Adapted from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/cumberlandsausagewit_70520

In brief, damn tasty. Eat more of this, especially in the autumn!

Ingredients

  

225g/8oz Italian Umbrian lentils or Puy lentils	small handful of small sage leaves
1 x 750g/1½lb Cumberland sausage	1 red chilli, seeded and chopped
3 tbsp olive oil	6 pieces sun-dried tomatoes in oil, drained and cut across into thin strips
300ml/10fl oz red wine	300ml/10 fl oz beef broth
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped	2 tbsp chopped flat leaf parsley
2 shallots, finely chopped	salt
leaves from 2 sprigs of rosemary	freshly ground black pepper

1. Drop the lentils into a pan of boiling salted water and cook for about 15 minutes until tender, but still with a little bit of bite left in them. They will be cooked a little more later on. Drain and set aside.

2. Pass two large metal skewers diagonally through the sausage to keep it in place during cooking.

3. Brush the base of a large, deep frying pan with 1 tbsp of the oil and place it over a medium heat. When hot, add the sausage and fry it for 8-10 minutes, turning it over half way through, until nicely browned on both sides and cooked through.

4. Transfer to a baking tray, cover loosely with foil and keep hot in a low oven.

 

5. Pour the excess oil out of the pan, return the pan to the heat and add the red wine.

Increase the heat and allow it to boil vigorously until it has reduced to about 3 tbsp. Pour the reduction into a bowl and set aside.

6. Add the remaining oil to the pan and add the garlic, shallots, rosemary, sage and chilli. Fry over a medium-high heat until the shallots are soft and lightly browned.

7. Add the sun-dried tomatoes, lentils, red wine reduction, beef broth and some salt and pepper and leave to simmer gently until the liquid has reduced slightly and the lentils are tender.

8. Stir the chopped parsley into the lentils and spoon them into a warmed shallow serving dish.

10. Put the Cumberland sausage on top, remove the skewers and serve.