Lentils + Sausages + Bacon + Red wine = Love

Showcasing The Fatted Calf's Toulouse Sausages & Bacon



I recently left Fred at home whilst I enjoyed an unprecendented two girls' nights out in a row. By way of an apology for neglecting him, I prepared Fred a dish I thought he would take particular pleasure in. Although lentils are one of those foods I don't normally go out of my way to hunt down, he likes them a lot. By the time I had added several indulgent, high-quality ingredients to this particular recipe, even I couldn't fail to steal a spoonful or two or three before leaving him to his own devices for the evening.



Toulouse sausages by The Fatted Calf are the current craze in our household. We haven't been without a pair of these plump, juicy beauties sitting next to the stalwarts, bacon or pancetta, on our Fatted Calf shopping list for weeks. There is nothing like an ample dose of pork fat and a splash of Côtes du Rhône to make something spectacular out of an assuming helping of green lentils, believe me.

Decadent, Sausage & Lentils (Serves 4)

Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup diced carrot
1 medium onion, decided
5 cloves garlic, roughly minced
1 cup green lentils
2 bay leaves
a few fronds of parsely tied together
2 cups chicken stock
1 cup tomato juice*
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups red wine
4 fat sausages
6 rashers of bacon, cut into bite-sized portions
1 cup chopped tomatoes
salt and pepper to season
chopped parsly to garnish




Method
- Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat
- Add the carrots, onion and garlic and cook slowly until the onions are soft and translucent
- Add the washed lentils and stir for a couple of minutes until they are fully coated with oil
- Add the tomato juice, salt, chicken stock, parsley, bay leaf, parsley and red wine
- Bring to a boil
- Turn down the heat and simmer for an hour
-Remove the bay leaves and parsley
- In another large skillet quickly fry the bacon and sausages in their own fat until lightly golden
- Slice the sausages into fat, bite-sized chunks and add them, the bacon and all of the fat they rendered to the lentil mixture
- Cook for a further 15 minute
- Add the cup of chopped tomatoes and stir to warm them through.
- Check for seasoning and add salt or pepper to taste
- Garnish with chopped parsley to serve.

Local Ingredient List & Local Resources
Carrots from Heirloom Organic Gardens
Onion and Garlic from Chue's Farm
Parsley and Early Girl Tomatoes from Dirty Girl
Bacon and Toulouse sausage from The Fatted Calf

(In the interest of transparency I confess that having being a regular, charcuterie-obsessed customer of Taylor and Toponia of the Fatted Calf for almost two years now, we have become friendly.)

*The tomato juice was from a batch I milled myself from a box-full of Dirty Girl Early Girl tomatoes, before freezing it in batches, ready for the winter.

Food | Recipe | San Francisco | Farmers Market | Fatted Calf

Lentils + Sausages + Bacon + Red wine = Love