Cheaper by the oven's sausage, lentil and bacon stew
Tuesday, March 1, 2011 at 10:56PM 
My fridge is almost completely empty. There are still plenty of jars of things, but nothing fresh other than milk. My cupboards are full of grains, pulse and spices and the freezer is stocked with various meats, but I usually like a bit of green with my red and brown so I am not even trying to be inspired to make a meal out of it.
Monday is usually shopping night, but I had a bit too much to drink over the weekend and was feeling lazy and tired. I also spent too much money, which paired with the big bills this month means I am on a bit of a budget.
In my lethargic state I spent the evening trawling the 100s of blogs in my Google reader drooling over dishes I had no intention of cooking or hope of eating any time in the near future... until I got to Cheaper by the oven.
Cheaper by the oven is all about encouraging students to eat well by providing good recipes that can be made on the cheap, “so there’s plenty left for your booze budget.” Well, I had already blown my booze budget so this sounded like as good a reason as any to have a proper look.
Amazingly, the most recent post, would you bang’er, had a recipe I could make without a trip to the supermarket.
“Hello cupboards, hello freezer. I think you will be coming in handy.”
Out with the extra pack of sausages from when they were 2 for £4 at Sainsbury’s. Out with the extra bacon. Time to use up the puy lentils. Time for the not so new potatoes.
I pretty much followed the recipe to a T with the addition of some fresh thyme (cause I have it on the balcony), less onion (cause I only had one), and puy lentils rather than brown (cause that is what I had in the cupboard).I also used chicken stock rather than water for extra flavour, but again this is because I had some in the freezer.
he nice thing about this recipe is that it could easily be adjusted according to the contents of your cupboard. I was tempted to add some smoked paprika or chilli to the mix, but it was already tasting mighty fine so I decided less was more in this case. For the same reason, I skipped the Dijon.
I think it is a testament to the site that I was able to make such a nice meal out of what I had previously deemed to be a hopeless pizza delivery situation. And it was absolutely delicious.
Proper, hearty British food. No frills. (Not necessary).
I have amended the recipe below to reflect the minor changes I made to the ingredients and method – you can find the original here. I served the stew with potatoes, but a hunk of crusty bread to mop up the juices would have done just as well, if not better. Serves four generously.
Ingredients
1 tbsp olive oil
12 sausages
1 onion, halved and thinly sliced
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
200g smoked bacon
200g puy (or brown) lentils
400g tin chopped tomatoes
600ml chicken stock
Small bunch fresh thyme, woody stems removed and finely chopped
Salt and pepper, to taste
Method
Heat the in a heavy bottomed saucepan over a medium-low heat. Add the sausages and lightly brown on all sides. Remove and put to one side.
Turn the heat down to low and add the onions and garlic. Sweat for a few minutes, then turn the heat up a bit and add the bacon. Cook until the fat has run and the bacon starts to brown, stirring continuously.
Wash the lentils and add them to the saucepan along with the tomatoes and stock. Once the mixture starts to boil, add the sausages and turn down to a gentle simmer. Cover and cook for 30-40 minutes, or until the lentils are cooked. Add the fresh thyme and season with salt and pepper.
Vix
Posh sausage
I made this again the other night and, since I was using organic lamb and rosemary sausages, I decided to add some extra ingredients to make it a bit more interesting. It was really nice, particularly on the second day when it was reheated.
Extra ingredients
1 x celery stick, finely diced
1 x carrot, finely diced
200g pancetta (instead of bacon), diced
100ml white wine
2 sprigs rosemary, finely chopped
Splash of Worcester sauce
1 tbsp dijon mustard
3 anchovies, mashed
Add the celery and carrot when sweating the onions and garlic. Add the pancetta when you would have added the bacon. Add the wine after the bacon is cooked - turn up the heat first, bubble and reduce. Turn the heat back down when you add the rest of the ingredients. Add the rest of the ingredients when you add tomatoes and stock.
I also cooked the sausages for a bit longer on a griddle and only added them right at the end, so that they didn't get that strange consistency that sausages get when they are effectively poached in liquid, i.e. like a frankfurter.
Reader Comments (4)
I am sitting infront of computer seeking inspiration for something easy that doesn't require time in supermarket and I reckon this could be it .It's not so much that the fridge is empty , for as you well know our friddge is always full - but with things we don't want to eat - dubious little morsels of pre loved dinners that are usually turfed out a week later. I'm off to say hallo to my cupboards and freezer. More later.
Yes, I remember only too well, Dad used to get so angry when we'd say there's nothing to eat. He'd reply "you mean there is nothing you want to eat" - that's right Dad, cause it is all stinky and mouldy, we want jaffles! Let me know how the sausage stew goes.
A triumph. King of Wingdang and his Dad were here.Together with Charlie Brown and Hash brown - everyone loved iit . I love how easy it is - and how the lentils soak up the juice. I did add a chorizo - it gve it lots of flavour -King W asked me if I had added smoked paprika, but it was the chorizo that gave it edge.
Thanks so much for the recipe .
That sounds fab! Chorizo does have a magic way with stews. Dubious morsels or not, Dad's fridge definitely has something going for it - it would be rare for me to have chorizo in a bare fridge situation as it would usually be one of the first things to go!