This lentil-chicken sausage combination is a comforting, savory dish of the kind that suggests slow cooking but, happily, demands only 30 minutes of the cook’s time.
Don’t be surprised that the smart recipe comes from a chef designated a “fast expert.”
The chef is Annie Wayte, who supervises fashion designer Nicole Farhi’s restaurants in London and New York City.
Instead of pork sausage, Wayte uses chicken sausages, and she replaces mashed potatoes with fiber-rich lentils – deft streamlining with no loss of flavor.
Lentils with chicken sausage
1cup French green lentils (7 ounces)
4cups chicken stock or low-sodium broth
1carrot, cut into 1-inch pieces
1celery rib, cut into 1-inch pieces
1small onion, quartered, plus 1 large onion, cut through the root end into 8 wedges
1garlic clove
2tablespoons canola oil
4thyme sprigs
1cup baby spinach leaves, coarsely chopped
Salt and freshly ground pepper
4precooked chicken sausages (3/4 pound)
1 1/2tablespoons balsamic vinegar
In a medium heavy soup pot, combine the lentils with the chicken stock. Cover and bring to a boil.
In a food processor, pulse the carrot, celery, quartered onion and the garlic until finely chopped. In a large skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of the oil. Add the vegetables and the thyme and cook over moderately high heat until softened, 3 minutes; scrape into the lentils, cover and cook over moderate heat until the lentils are tender, 20 minutes. Stir in the spinach; season with salt and pepper.
Meanwhile, heat the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil in the skillet. Add the onion wedges and sausages and cook over moderate heat, turning occasionally, until the onions are softened, 8 to 10 minutes. Add the balsamic vinegar and cook for 1 minute.
Thickly slice the sausages. Stir the sausages, onions and any accumulated juices into the lentils; discard the thyme sprigs. Spoon the lentils and sausages into bowls and serve.
Makes 4 servings. Per serving: 494 cal., 24 g total fat (4.8 g saturated), 39 g carbo., 9 g fiber.
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