Toasted Special

Sausage & Lentils is a classic combination and offers a great way of using up ingredients in your fridge and store cupboard. The list of ingredients you see below is just an improvisation I did this evening, you can use so many combinations of vegetables and flavours in this dish. It really is versatile. You could add some peas, mushrooms or sweetcorn. You could replace the pancetta or leave it out altogether. You could replace the wholegrain mustard with some crushed fennel seeds or some Worcestershire sauce for extra flavour. You could use garlicky Toulouse sausages or spicy Genovese for a change. You could add also some grated Parmesan cheese. Just don’t use all of these things at the same time!

Of course, you could use dried puy lentils as they don’t take very long to cook, but I just find the canned green lentils incredibly handy. Very nutritious too.

Ingredients

• pancetta, small piece chopped (or 6 rashers streaky bacon)
• 6 good quality sausages
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 2 sticks celery, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 sprig fresh rosemary, finely chopped
• 400g can chopped tomatoes
• 2 x 400g cans green lentils
• 250ml chicken stock
• 1 tbsp wholegrain mustard
• salt & pepper
• baby spinach leaves, a handful
• fresh flat-leaf parsley

Method

1. Heat a little olive oil in a heavy saucepan. Add the pancetta or bacon and fry until golden and some of the fat has been rendered out. Remove the bacon and set aside.
2. Add the sausages to the pan and fry until they’re golden. Remove the sausages and set aside.
3. Add the onion, celery, garlic and rosemary and fry briskly until the vegetables are coloured nicely.
4. Return the sausages to the pan and add the canned tomatoes, stock, mustard and lentils. Reduce the heat and simmer gently for about 8 minutes, or until most of the liquid has evaporated.
5. Stir through the spinach leaves and some chopped fresh parsley. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Serve.

Serves 2, generously.