Sausages and Lentils with Herb Relish

Isn't this a beautiful looking presentation of Sausage

This is like the perfect winter dish: Sausages & Lentils with Herb Relish. I love Sausages and when cooked on top of the Lentils the juices and flavors from the Sausages enhance the Lentils. Great dish served with warmed Crusty Bread and Red Wine!

Sausages & Lentils with Herb Relish

From the Oven to the Table

 

Serves 4

 

For The Sausages and Lentils

 

1½    tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

8       good-quality pork sausages

1       onion, finely chopped

½      celery stalk, finely chopped

1       medium carrot, finely chopped

¼      lb pancetta or bacon lardons

2       cups chicken stock

1½    cups dry white wine or dry hard cider

1       garlic clove, finely grated

2⅓    cups Puy lentils

2       bay leaves

sea salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper

Dijon mustard and crusty bread, to serve

 

For The Relish

 

4       cups soft herb leaves such as flat-leaf parsley, basil, mint, chives, or a mix of whatever you have

1½    tablespoons capers, rinsed, drained, and patted dry

2       garlic cloves, very finely chopped

½      teaspoon Dijon mustard

juice of 1 lemon

7       tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

 

Why bake the lentils for this, rather than cook them on the stovetop? Well, because they become imbued with the juices from the sausages and they keep their shape better, each lentil a perfect little lens. They also seem to taste much more intense than any pulses I cook on the stovetop. You have to use exactly the size of dish stipulated, so that the lentils- and the stock in which they're baking-cook at the right rate.

Preheat the oven to 275°F

Heat the olive oil in a 12in ovenproof sauté pan and brown the sausages all over (you just need to color them, not cook them through). Lift the sausages out. Add the onion, celery, carrot, and pancetta or bacon lardons to the pan and sauté until the bacon is golden. Separately mix the stock and wine or cider together in a measuring cup.

Add the garlic and lentils to the pan with the bay leaves and toss with the vegetables, then add 2¼ cups of the stock mixture. Bring to a boil, season, return the sausages, then transfer to the oven.

Cook, uncovered, for 15 minutes. Stir and add the rest of the stock mixture, then cover and bake for a final 25-30 minutes. The lentils should be tender and the liquid almost completely absorbed. Taste for seasoning, though the reduced stock, wine, and bacon should have made the dish quite salty enough.

Make the relish. Either chop the herbs and capers finely and mix with the other ingredients, or whizz everything together in a food processor. Taste for seasoning.

Serve the sausages and lentils with the relish. Serve Dijon mustard and crusty bread on the side.