This is really delicious and pretty cheap. You have to use good quality sausages though, with a high pork content. If they have too much bread/rusk in them then they can go kind of spongey, which is not a great texture. Regardless, you can buy a pack of good quality sausages for less than 3 euro. Before I went gluten free I liked Aldi & Lidl's fancy sausages in the tray, which were great value with a high pork content for 2 euro or thereabouts. I made this yesterday with M&S pork and apple sausages, which were gluten free & it was delish. I ideally use black beluga lentils in this and most lentil dishes, but they are really hard to get. I have been searching for them for months, and just got a pack in Shortis Wongs on John St, in Kilkenny, a really cool, really good value delicatessen. You can also use puy lentils, which vary wildly in price from shop to shop. If they are actually grown in Puy in France, they're usually a lot dearer, but the small, speckled green ones are pretty much the same and way cheaper.
Ingredients:
6 to 8 good quality sausages
1 tin of tomatoes
1 onion, diced finely
2 cloves of garlic
1 large glass of white wine
2 bay leaves
1 red pepper, diced
1 cup (or half a large mug) of puy/beluga style lentils
balsamic vinegar
a generous pinch of chilli flakes
half a cup of stock (I used a kallo vegetable stock cube)
salt & freshly ground black pepper
olive oil
Method:
Heat a little olive oil (or oil of your choice) in a large pan, and when sufficiently preheated, fry the sausages for a few minutes, until they are browned on the outside. Set aside the sausages.
Lower the heat and add the onion to the same pan. Cook for 5 minutes, on this low heat to release the flavour. Add the red pepper and garlic and cook for another 2 minutes.
Meanwhile, rinse the lentils really well in a sieve. If you don't rinse them well they have a mucky taste. If you have time, soak them for a while as well, but you don't have to (it makes them cook more quickly). Rinse the lentils and add to the pan after the peppers have softened. Stir well and return the sausages to the pan. Increase the heat & add the bay leaves & chilli flakes.
When the sausages have heated up, add the wine. Stir and reduce, which will take a few minutes. Then add the tinned tomatoes, the stock and a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar. Bring to the boil and reduce the heat to the lowest or second lowest setting. Cover and simmer for about 40 minutes. Check occasionally to see if it needs more liquid (as the lentils will absorb liquid and expand while they cook) and add some hot water if necessary.
Serve with whatever you like. Potatoes would be good, or a green vegetable.
