Sausage, lentil and silverbeet stew

 I have discovered the most delicious pork and fennel sausages at my local butcher.  I now buy them every couple of weeks and have been exploring new ways of cooking them.  In a bid to lower the stodge quotient involved in sausagy meals (due to the large quantity of mash, roast potatoes so on that often go along) I decided to make a hearty stew with vegetables, and some of the lovely green lentils I have a stockpile of at the moment.


Ingredients:

• 6 pork and fennel sausages
• 3/4 cup green or puy lentils
• 1 bunch silverbeet
• 2 tins crushed tomatoes
• 3 cups of vegetable stock
• 1 brown onion
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 quill of cinnamon
• olive oil
• Fresh crusty bread, or garlic bread, for serving

 Heat the oven to about 170.  Chop the onions and garlic and saute in the oil, in a heavy, oven proof dish.  Shred the silverbeet, removing the large stalky bits.  Add the lentils and beet to the pot and stir through the oil and onions. 

 Add the two tins of tomatoes and the stock, cinnamon and bay leaves, then the sausages.  Bring to a simmer, cover and put the entire dish in the oven for anywhere between 40 minutes and an hour, until the lentils are cooked.  When it's done take the sausages out and chop them, then return them to the stew, juices and all.  Serve with the crusty bread, or garlic bread. 

One pot wonders for the win, as they say on the internets.

Tri-salad Sunday

Ah the change of seasons.  Time for finishing the scarf I started knitting over a month ago.  Time to buy some new 100 denier tights.  Time to consider growing my hair long, again.  Time to buy new batteries for my bike lights for the dark evenings.

It's also time to get my first dastardly head cold of the season.  Time to go to bed early.  Time to take fruit, and eat vitamins.  Time to up my vegetable intake massively.  Hence Tri-salad Sunday.  A way to capitalise on some time at home in the midst of my manic massive work and study load, to stockpile some high veg, low(ish) carbs, tasty meals to last the majority of the week.

One Sunday.  One blog post.  Three salads.  Let's do this thing.

1. Green lentil salad
2. Pearl couscous, beetroot and sweet potato salad
3. Roast mushrooms

Okay, that last one isn't really a salad, but it's vegetables, and it's yummy, so just go with it, okay?


Green lentil salad 

 Ingredients:

• 1.5 cups green lentils (Puy if you can get 'em) 
• Bay leaves 
• 1 tomato, diced
• half a green capsicum, diced
• half a red capsicum, diced
• half a small red onion, finely sliced
• goats fetta
• 1 cup walnuts
• bunch of fresh parsley, finely chopped
• dressing - grape must, macadamia oil and raspberry balsamic

Heat the oven to 180 degrees C.  Dry roast the walnuts for 8-10 minutes.  Rinse the lentils under cold water then add to a pot.  Pour over 4.5 cups of boiling water (you can use stock if you prefer).  Add the bay leaves and simmer for 20 minutes.  To check if they're ready, taste to make sure the texture is right.  I wanted my lentils to be firm but chewy, and not tough.  Once cooked, drain the remaining water and again, run cold water over the lentils to cool them.

Finely chop your tomato, capsicum, onion and parsley.  Add the walnuts, vegetables, parsley and fetta to the lentils and toss through.  Make up your dressing and pour over.

Pearl couscous, beetroot and sweet potato salad

Ingredients:

• 1 packet of pearl couscous
• 2 cups stock
• 1 sweet potato, diced
• 3 small beetroots or 2 medium beetroots, diced
• olive oil
• lemon juice
• 1.5 cups rocket 
• salt and pepper 

Peel and dice the beetroot and sweet potato.  Toss in oil and roast in a 180 C oven for up to 50 minutes, or until browning and crunchy.

While the vegetables roast, place the couscous in a saucepan with a dash of oil, and heat through, coating the couscous.  Add two cups of boiling stock, cover and simmer for 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking to the bottom of the pan.  Then cool and seperate with a fork.

Rinse the rocket and pat dry on a tea towel.  Then add the rocket and roast vegetables to the couscous, and toss.  Add a splash of olive oil, juice of one lemon, salt and pepper, and mix through.

Roast mushrooms

Ingredients:

• white button and large portabello mushrooms, roughly chopped
• olive oil
•  3 cloves of garlic
• fresh parsley
• knob of butter

Place the mushrooms  in a pan and drizzle olive oil over them, then toss.  Sprinkle salt and pepper over them if you fancy extra seasoning.  Add the garlic cloves to the pan and roast in the oven (180 C) for about 20 minutes, checking to make sure the mushrooms do not dehydrate fully.

Remove the garlic and squeeze out the roasted insides.  Add to a bowl with the knob of butter and microwave for 20 seconds, or until the butter is melted.  Add the mushrooms to the bowl with the finely chopped fresh parsley, and toss.

Serve all three with freshly baked dinner rolls and lemon infused olive oil.  Oh yum.

NB This will make huge quantities of salad, if you make all three at once.  Eat them all week and show your head cold who's boss!

Lentil and Vegetable Soup

There is nothing so hearty as a rustic soup for a cold night, when you may or may not be in recovery from the previous night's festivities, and in need of sustenance to revive your broken body. The kind of night when you're happy to sit at home and watch the Vicar of Dibley on telly, and pretend to do some work, then go to bed early.

This is that soup.

Ingredients

• 400g can of lentils
• large carrot
• 2 sticks of celery
• onion
• garlic
• parsley
• thyme
• splash of olive oil
• 1 litre vegetable stock
• lemon juice
• bread and butter to serve

Cut all your vegies down into smallish bits. Rinse your lentils thoroughly - seriously, the more you rinse them the less you'll fart tomorrow - and drain them. Meanwhile, if you are using powdered stock as I have, prepare this now in a jug, using boiling water. Heat a generous splash of olive oil in a big pot, and add the onion, garlic, carrot and celery. Stir and soften for about 5 minutes. Add the lentils and stir for another minute or two.

Add the stock to your pot, and bring to the boil. Finely chop the parsley and thyme and add these, and lots of cracked pepper. Simmer for about 15 minutes and add a squeeze of lemon juice. Serve with buttered crusty bread and eat it on the new couch, in front of the telly, next to the heater.