Ingredients for the French Lentils
- 2 oz. bacon
- 12 oz. French green lentils
- 1 carrot
- 1 rib celery
- 1 small onion
- parsley, thyme in kitchen cord
- 5.5 cups of water
- 2 t Dijon Mustard
- 1 t Red wine vinegar
- salt & pepper
- 1 pound of fresh sweet Italian sausage
- 1 T olive oil
Both lentils and sausage were cooking in the morning, when the temperature was cool, and stored in the fridge to be warmed and eaten the next day. Or when we returned from seeing music in town, this night. Instead of walking to town for free Friday night music, we walked only as far as Old Pecos Trail into what looked like a very threatening thunderstorm. Making a gin & tonic, we sat outside to watch the storm arrive, and it did after one sip. Temperature dropped to 68 ° and I put on the lentils with one sausage atop them at 4 on the induction stove.
Notes on the final product: the lentils are very tasty but dry after being reheated.The sausage was particularly dry. My advice to myself is to cook the sausage just before serving, but that the lentils can be stored, even frozen (which we did with the remaining lentils). Additionally, these lentils may be a little old, and would benefit from being cooked in a savory stock rather than simple 5.5 cups of water. And if storing for later use, I know I can cook for slightly less than 1 hour.
For reference, here are the wine and mustard used.
Cook two pieces of smoked bacon until their fat is rendered.
Chop vegetables to add to the finished bacon
Sauté vegetable with bacon and 1 t of butter
Sauté vegetables for 15 minutes
Add 12 oz. of washed French green lentils to the vegetables and cover with 5.5 cups of water. Add an herb bouquet of parsley and thyme. Cook on low for about 1 hour.
Cook 1 pound of sausage in 1 cup of wine and 1 of water on high (8), until the liquid is absorbed, about 10 minutes.
After cooking, brown in 1 T of olive oil.
When lentils are cooked thoroughly, remove the herb bouquet, then stir in a sauce made up of 1 t of red wine vinegar and 2 t of Dijon mustard, plus some salt and pepper. Server the lentils in a bowl with sausage on top.