Toulouse sausage and lentil casserole

Bonjour mes amis, comment allez-vous?

I apologise for my pathetic attempt at trying to master the French language but for some reason just recently I have been mostly finding myself under the influence of our Parisian counterparts.
I can’t be sure if it’s the miserable weather we have been having or the sudden influx of French cookery programmes that have mentally transported me to a country that at one time I naively believed lived on rubbery tasting cheese and watered down wine. How I let one tremendously bad experience ignorantly blind me to the huge array of delicacies this country has to offer is beyond me, I only hope the people of France will forgive me as I come crawling back sheepishly with my tail clamped down apologetically between my legs in hope that I will be welcomed back with a freshly baked almond croissant and a steaming mug of café au lait.

I decided to unleash my latest culinary obsession on my friends, seeing as though my usual guinea pig ( the husband ) had a prior engagement with a certain little brother of his and his not so subtle mutterings of  - ‘ why can’t we just have some normal food? ‘Were being repeated more often, I only felt it was right to give him a night off.

Before you start to think that I am going all Cordon Bleu, Sous Vide and crème anglaise on you fear not, I lean more to the casual dining side of the country, the rustically torn country bread served with a creamy goats milk chevre cheese and a chilled glass of sauvignon blanc or the tenderly grown lettuce leaves eaten only with a drizzle of Dijon mustard dressing and maybe a crispy raw radish.
Fine dining and Michelin stars suit some people but give me a sun-drenched patio, some shabby chairs and a candlestick poking out of the top of a used bottle of burgundy and I’m anybody’s.

Fate played a big hand when creating my dish as last week’s specials at my local butchers ( the fantastic clewlows in nantwich) included a wine and garlic infused Toulouse pork sausage, as if it was meant to be I stowed ten away in my shopping bag hoping that the aromatic aromas that these potentially prize winning bangers were emitting would not attract any unwanted attention from any stray dogs or particularly hungry office workers on their lunch break!

Trying to pair these robustly flavourful sausages with anything over - powering would be unfair instead I used subtle hints of slowly cooked tomato, red pepper, onion, thyme and garlic to create a base for what would be a hearty classic French farmhouse type dish.  I used tinned bijoux vert lentils but ordinary green lentils or better still puy lentils would work equally as well.

Toulouse sausage and lentil casserole

8 Toulouse style sausages – if you can’t find these don’t worry use normal
Olive oil
1 onion – peeled and chopped
2 punnets baby plum tomatoes (cherry tomatoes would be fine)
1 clove of garlic – peeled and finely sliced
1 red pepper - seeds removed and finely sliced
2 sprigs of thyme
1 dash of red wine
1 mug full of chicken stock
3 cans ready cooked bijoux vert lentils - drained

Put a heavy based pan onto a medium heat and brown your sausage all over, once coloured remove from the heat.
In the same pan turn the heat down add a glug of olive oil then add your onions, garlic, tomatoes
Pepper’s and thyme. Leave to cook on a low heat for about 20 mins or until the tomatoes are starting to break up.
Once everything is well softened turn the heat up and add the wine, allow to bubble away and reduce for a few minutes before adding the chicken stock. Put your sausages back into the pan and bring back to the boil. Turn the heat down to a simmer cover with a lid and leave for around twenty minutes.
Five minutes before the twenty is up take the lid off the sausages to allow the sauce to reduce by about two thirds.
Add the lentils and give everything a good stir to combine well and leave for another five minutes to allow the flavours to penetrate the lentils.
Serve with a green salad and some crusty white bread.

Bon appetite!