French Lentil and Garlic Sausage Stew

My new Food and Wine magazine is only amazing, though Chris would say I am biased since I am only a francophile, but it is all about France! As a result there are like 20 things I want to make it...probably more but I feel the bitters will probably nearly never get made till I actually have a big kitchen/real budget. They sound super fun though. Tonight I decided to make the recipe for French Lentils. Turns out my mom actually used to make a similar dish for my dad when they first got married, so I guess there is some family tradition in this dish as well. The actual dish calls for hazelnuts, but I was disinclined to go buy hazelnuts only for a soup and figured I could add some pecans and then forgot, so oh well! Next time I also might try adding fresh pesto instead of my mustard oil as the recipe calls. My aunt in France would do that with her lentil soups and I've never quite found another soup just like it.

Lien, I know, French lentils, WTF?!?! They sound intimidating but they really aren't. Its basically like cooking rice, add water and let them cook for 30 minutes, and then ta da! Also escarole is a type of lettuce, but a tougher kind, closer to a cross between typical romaine lettuce and bok choy. It's got some more grungy spice to it too than normal lettuce, so I would say if you are confused at the store just get some arugula, then you don't have to chop it or search for it.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 lb French garlic sausage, or as my mom and I do any sausage we really like, uncooked.
2 leeks, white and tender (Trader Joe's has them in packs of two Lien, and there is a picture of one further down)
1 large carrot or a nice handful of baby carrots
3 garlic cloves, or a big spoonful of preminced garlic
1 1/2 cups French green lentils (also a picture below)
3 thyme sprigs, 1 rosemary sprig, and 1 bay leaf (you can survive with dried stuff too Lien)
5 cups water
Salt
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 small head of escarole
1 tablespoon chopped parsley

1. Take 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and put them in a big pot (preferably a dutch oven, so Lien, like my big red pot or a Le Cruset-like pot that I use for soup). Put the pot over medium heat and then chop your sausage, in the casing or out is fine. Cut it into about 3/4 inch pieces, so they will end up nice little bite size meatballs in the end. Add them to the pot and let them cook until browned, about 5 minutes.

2. While the sausage browns, slice your leeks and carrot. The leeks should be thinly sliced and the carrot should be diced in to about pea size pieces. Once the sausages are browned all over, take them out with a slotted spoon so that all the yummy juices stay in the pot to flavor your veggies with. Then add the leeks and carrot, as well as the garlic. Let them cook for about 7 minutes until softened. Then add the herbs, lentils, and 5 cups of water (or a combination of water and chicken broth). Season the broth with salt and pepper and let it cook for about 35 minutes, at a simmer, so on LOW heat, till the lentils are softened, so when you can chew them and would want to eat them. 

3. Once the lentils are about 5 minutes from being done chop the escarole. If you got escarole then make sure you clean it first, especially if it is organic. Don't worry too much about excess water from rinsing it off if you don't have a salad spinner since there is already water in the stew. Chop it so it wont be big slices of escarole in the soup, otherwise it's kind of like lettuce noodles, if that makes sense. Add the escarole and let it cook till wilted, 6 minutes. 

4. While the escarole cooks, make the mustard oil! Take the mustard and the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil and mix them together with a small whisk or a fork till combined. Then chop the parsley, finely if you don't want to take the leaves off the stems because the stems can be kind of tough. I actually used probably more like 2-3 tablespoons worth of chopped parsley, since Chris and I like it. Once the escarole is wilted, add the sausages to the pot again and cook until heated through, about 5 minutes. Then ladle out bowls and serve with parsley and mustard oil drizzled on top.

Oh and thats the sunset. It's really just here so my brother can see because he loves sunsets. And long walks on the beach of course ;)

But the lentils were delicious and will make wonderful lunch/dinner later this week!