Stranger Foods

Sausage, lentil & fennel stew with creme fraiche & dijon mustard

Serves 4 | Prep 20 mins | Cook 1 hr

There are few things more comforting than a bowl of lentils and sausages. Cooking the stew for the most part in the oven means you get lovely caramelized sausages as well as the occasional carrot or lentil tinged golden brown and crunchy from the all-round fierce heat of the oven. If you’re counting the calories, you can use low-fat crème fraîche (or none at all), but I love how, when mixed with the mustard, it adds a silky indulgence with a bit of oomph to the dish!

Source: Foolproof One-Pot: 60 Simple and Satisfying Recipes

Ingredients

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2 tbsp light olive oil
25 g unsalted butter
8 pork sausages
80 g smoked lardons
1 tsp fennel seeds, lightly crushed
1 onion, peeled and finely diced
1 large carrot, finely diced
1 fennel bulb, finely diced
3 bay leaves
1 large sprig of thyme
3 cloves garlic, finely grated
1 tbsp tomato purée
150 ml dry vermouth or white wine
750 ml hot chicken stock
250 g puy lentils, rinsed and drained
2 tbsp crème fraîche
2 tsps Dijon mustard
3 tbsp finely chopped parsley
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

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Preheat the oven to 200°C. Heat the oil and butter in your wide shallow pot over a medium heat. Add the sausages and cook for , until browned on a couple of sides, turning them once during this time. Using tongs, transfer the browned sausages to a plate and set aside.
Add the lardons and fennel seeds to the pot and cook for until beginning to brown. Add the onion, carrot and fennel along with the bay leaves and thyme. Cook for around until the onion is softening. Stir regularly, scraping up any caramelized bits that may have stuck to the bottom of the pot, allowing them to melt into the vegetables.
Add the garlic and tomato purée (paste) and cook for another . Add the vermouth, or white wine, and cook until it is almost all evaporated. Now add the stock followed by the lentils, 1 tsp salt and some black pepper. Bring to the boil and then place the sausages evenly on top with some of the meat sitting above the surface level of the liquid, like sausage icebergs!
Place the pot, uncovered, in the preheated oven and cook, undisturbed, for , by which time the lentils will be cooked, the liquid reduced and the sausages and some of the vegetables browned on top.
Meanwhile, mix the crème fraîche with the mustard in a small bowl.
Remove the stew from the oven, dot with the blended crème fraîche and mustard and sprinkle the chopped parsley all over. Serve.

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