Winter lentils with sausages and watercress pesto
This dish of lentils and sausages brings me an immense amount of comfort, especially served alongside a glass of red wine.
This dish of lentils and sausages brings me an immense amount of comfort. Served alongside a glass of red wine, it is one of my favourite winter dishes. In northern Italy, which I was lucky to call home for a year, lentils are often served with plump, fatty sausages called cotechino. While you can sometimes find cotechino in local Italian butchers – grab them if you see them, they are so delicious – it’s fine to simply use good-quality pork and fennel sausages.
Or if you’d like to keep this dish vegetarian, serve the lentils with a nugget of goat’s cheese, or fry up a big field mushroom. Watercress is an underrated leaf; it brings a zesty, peppery quality to salads that I love. I find it a perfect pairing to these braised lentils. It grows rampant this time of year, and you will most likely find it in the herb section of a supermarket. If you can’t, a peppery rocket makes a great substitute.
Some other delicious recipes you may love:
- Crispy throw-together flatbread
- A delicious, affordable dahl
- Effortless olive oil cake
- Frutti di mare pasta, your way
RECIPE: Winter lentils with sausages and watercress pesto
Ingredients
- 1 cup French-style green lentils (or Puy lentils)
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 medium size fennel with fronds, cut into 8 wedges, fronds reserved
- 1 medium carrot, finely chopped
- 2 sticks celery, finely chopped
- 1 brown onion, finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 1 cup dry white wine
- 2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon salt flakes and pepper to taste
- 8 small pork and fennel chipolata sausages (or 4 large pork and fennel sausages)
Watercress pesto
- 2 cups watercress or rocket, leaves picked
- 1 garlic clove, grated
- 1/3⅓ cup olive oil
- Pinch salt flakes
- 1 lemon, zest and juice
- Crusty bread to serve
- Rinse lentils under water. Set aside.
Method
- Heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Place fennel in the hot pan, cooking for 2 minutes on each side until caramelised. Remove and set aside. Throw carrot, celery, onion and garlic in the hot pan. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until vegetables start to soften.
- Add lentils and coat them in the vegetables. Follow with wine. Let it bubble up and cook for 2 minutes before adding stock and tomato paste. Give it all a stir. Add caramelised fennel back in pot. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook, uncovered for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in vinegar, mustard, salt and pepper. Taste and adjust seasoning accordingly. Cook for a further 5 minutes or until lentils are tender and liquid has reduced.
- Meanwhile, heat remaining oil in a frying pan and cook sausages until browned and cooked through (you could also cook them on the barbecue or in a 200-degree oven).
- For the watercress or rocket pesto, throw the leaves into a small food processor and blitz. Alternatively, you can do this in a mortar and pestle or finely chop them by hand. Add garlic, olive oil, salt, lemon zest and a squeeze of lemon juice to taste. Combine.
- To serve, ladle lentils into four bowls, top with sausages (either whole or sliced) and dollop over some pesto sauce. Garnish with the fennel fronds and serve with crusty bread for dipping. Serves 4