Ingredients
Check off ingredients as you go
Serves 6
- 500 g (2½ cups) green or brown lentils
- 1 large white or yellow onion
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 carrot, finely diced
- 1 stalk celery, finely diced (optional)
- 2-3 sprigs thyme
- 2 bay leaves
- 150 g (5 oz) smoked beef or turkey (kosher smoked deli meat), cubed (optional)
- sausages (allow 2 per person)
- 1.2 to 1.5 liters (5-6 cups) water or vegetable stock
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- Salt, pepper
- a few sprigs fresh parsley, chopped
Heat the oil in a Dutch oven and sauté the onion, carrot (and celery, if using) for 5 to 8 minutes, until the onion is translucent.
If using, add the cubed smoked beef (or other smoked deli meat) and brown it for 2 or 3 minutes before adding the lentils. Add the rinsed lentils and the garlic cloves and stir for 1 to 2 minutes, then pour in the water (or stock). Add the bay leaves and thyme. Simmer for 35-40 minutes, until the lentils are tender. Add the sausages, sliced into rounds if you like, and cook for another 15 minutes.
Remove the bay leaves and thyme, season with salt and pepper, and serve with a little chopped parsley and, if you like, a bit of mustard or a splash of wine or cider vinegar.
Tips and variations
For the sausages, you can use chicken sausages, smoked sausages (the kind you’d put in a choucroute, the Alsatian sauerkraut dish) or a mix; in the photo I used half chicken, half beef/lamb.
For another take on lentils, this time with smoked salmon, head over here