Mid-week dinner idea : Sausages with Creamy Lentils

I know, the idea of cream and lentils doesn't always sound quite right, but here that isn't a concern due to the overall consistency being so light, the cream sits really nicely.

We had this for dinner (our evening meal - some call it "supper", lol) following on from Christmas but it didn't get blogged then.  I made a note that it scored a good 9 out of 10 and we'd voted to have it again - and to blog it then, so here we are.

The original recipe was just onion, carrot and celery with lentils which I thought was a wee bit light on the veggie front so have included peas and broad beans.  It seemed a shame to have to cook another vegetable separately, when you had so many going on in the lovely sauce.  The peas and broad beans combine very comfortably with the bacon and the cream, resulting in lovely flavours from two pans.  Perfect for a mid-week meal when you want to keep both preparation and washing-up to a minimum.

It's a complete mountain of food, I know.
Hubby did the plating up - and was a bit on the generous side!

SAUSAGES WITH CREAMY LENTILS  (feeds 3)

  

Ingredients :

8 good quality pork sausages (I used Cumberland)

1 onion, chopped fine

2 carrots, peeled & chopped fine

1 celery stick, de-stringed and chopped fine

2 tbsp olive oil

2 rashers streaky bacon, diced small

pinch of dried thyme

200ml hot vegetable or chicken stock

a shake or two of Worcestershire Sauce

400g tin green lentils, drained

a handful of frozen peas

a handful of frozen broad beans (or fresh!)

4 tbsp double cream.

Method :

1.  Pre-heat the oven to 180deg C, then put the sausages onto a roasting tin and bake for some 20-25 mins or until golden and cooked through.

2.  Heat the oil in a deep frying pan or wok.  Fry the bacon for 2-3 minutes or until the fat has rendered.

3.  Then add the onion, carrots, celery & thyme and continue cooking until they are softened and begin to brown – around 8-10 minutes.

4.  Pour in the stock and Worcestershire sauce and simmer until the carrots are tender.  Add the lentils, peas and broad beans and continue to simmer until heated through.

5.  Add the cream, stir and taste.  Add seasoning.

6.  Add the sausages and give them around 3-4 minutes in the simmering sauce, before serving with mashed potato.

Printable version.