Given that I live in eternal summer here in Malaysia, you may wonder how I crave wintery stews. And given that when I lived in freezing Holland, I did complain every day about how bad the weather was and wondered if the Dutch actually knew that weather could be good. And look, it doesn’t happen often so there is no need for concern but every now and then I do enjoy cranking my air conditioner, having a bath, wearing leggings, shutting the curtains, watching The Notebook cooking shows and pretending I am back in my little old previous home, the Netherlands.
That or I just really love hearty dinners. You decide.
creamy lentils with mushrooms & italian sausage
Adapted from The First Mess
Serves 2
Ingredients
1 cup green lentils, rinsed and drained
1 brown onion, finely chopped
4 cloves of garlic
2 stalks of celery, finely chopped
2tbs fresh thyme
Handful of swiss brown and field mushrooms, sliced
1tbs butter
2 italian sausages, meat pulled from the cover
1 cup white wine
1 cup chicken stock
1/2 cup milk
Handful of spinach, baby spinach or kale
3 teaspoons soy sauce – trust me
Toasted bread to serve
Method
Bring a pot of salted water to the boil and drop your lentils in. Cook for 20 minutes-25 minutes then drain and rinse.
While the lentils are cooking heat some oil in a medium sized pot and gently sweat the onion, garlic, celery and thyme. Once translucent add the mushrooms and butter and cook for 15 minutes, stirring regularly.
Remove the mixture from the pot and turn up the heat. Add the sausage meat to the same pot and caramelise. Once the sausages have browned put the mushroom mixture back in along with wine. Bring to the boil, cooking the alcohol out for a few minutes before pouring in the stock. Simmer for 15-20 minutes.
Add the milk, spinach, soy sauce, cooked lentils and taste. You may not need salt or pepper, you decide. Depending on your chicken stock, you may find it a little salty. If so, just add a touch more milk. Once warmed through it’s ready to serve!
Kitchen notes...
No problems to skip the sausage and make vegetarian 😉