Pork sausage and puy lentil casserole

As I didn’t get to finish my main course from Latteria Mozzarella Bar, I thought I would make something from the leftovers/doggy bag the following night. I had bought some lovely puy lentils which my supermarket just started stocking, and adding them to a casserole with my sausages made perfect sense.

I also had leeks and swiss brown mushrooms in my fridge, so in to the casserole they also went, to make a good earthy, warming meal.

You can just as easily use fresh sausages for this dish, but I would then add a garlic to the casserole (see recipe below).

Ingredients for 2 servings

1. 4 good quality pork sausages
2. 1 glass dry white wine
3. 4 cloves garlic (optional, see note above)
4. 1 large onion, sliced
5. 1 cup swiss brown mushrooms, halved
6. 2 large leeks, rinsed and sliced
7. 1 cup puy lentils, rinsed
8. 1 1/2 cups chicken stock
9. 2-3 sage leaves, chopped if fresh, or 1 tsp dried sage
10. 1-2 bay leaves

Method

1. In a heavy-based saucepan, heat some oil and brown the sausages – they don’t need to be cooked through at this point if you’re using fresh sausages. Remove from pan and set aside. When cool enough to handle, cut into 1” slices
2. Deglaze the pan with the white wine, pour into a jug, set aside
3. Heat more oil in the pan and gently sweat the onions until translucent
4. Add garlic next if you are using them
5. Add leeks and mushrooms and fry until soft
6. Add the sausages and white wine
7. Add lentils and sage and bay leaves and enough stock to cover all ingredients and bring to a boil
8. Lower heat and gently simmer for 1 1/2 hours till lentils are cooked through
9. Serve with crusty bread

Sausage and bean casserole

I had sausages.  I had beans.  What to make for dinner ?  Why, a sausage and bean casserole of course !  Add in bacon and leeks and I had a casserole that’s pretty quick and easy to make and a delicious way to end a Monday. (I do wish that I lived in a country with seasons.  The subtle heat of the cayenne pepper and the comforting casserole would make it a perfect winter warmer)

Ingredients (makes a big pot that would serve 4-6)

1. 6 good quality sausages
2. 2 large leeks
3. 5 rashers bacon, chopped
4. 1 tin mixed beans (you could easily accommodate another tin if you like beans) rinsed until the water goes clear
5. 1 glass of wine
6. 1 cup chicken stock
7. pinch cayenne pepper
8. handful fresh parsley if you can get it, chopped

Method:

1. In a large casserole dish, brown the sausages, take out, slice into pieces and set aside
2. Fry the bacon pieces until nice and crispy.  Take out and set aside
3. Reduce the heat and fry the leeks for about 3-4 minutes until soft
4. Turn up the heat and add the wine and bring to the boil.  Let boil for 2-3 minutes for the alcohol to burn off
5. Add the stock and then put the sausages and bacon (leave a few of the crispier pieces as a garnish) back in the pot, with the beans and cayenne pepper and simmer for 10-15 minutes until the beans are warmed through – don’t bring it to boil or the beans will go mushy
6. Serve, topped with chopped parsley and bacon bits, and with some crusty bread

 

 

Bilbao

Iberico ham from Bilbao

Bilbao’s card says it is a restaurant, gastrobar & delicatessen featuring the cuisines of Spain.  I chanced upon Bilbao on show at the Isetan on Scotts supermarket.  Seemed strange to see Spanish produce in the middle of a Japanese supermarket, but who cares when you see a leg of Iberico ham being sliced for a customer ?

If you’ve read my blog regularly, you’ll know that Iberico ham is one of my favourite foods.  Nothing quite beats the intense sweet and salty flavour of this ham.  If it appears on a menu, you’re pretty much guaranteed it will be ordered by me.  I have only ever seen Iberico ham on offer to the lowly commoner in Burrough Markets in London, so to see it in sale in a supermarket, not sliced by machine and vacuum-packed, but hand sliced (skillfully thin as well, I might add), I was absolutely thrilled.  All other plans for dinner (I think I was planning to roast a chicken) flew out the window.

100g of the ham in my basket, I wandered over to look at the other offerings from Bilbao.  I chose the Spanish pork sausage, which wasn’t anything too dissimilar to the bratwurst sausage you can buy from the supermarket (but which we love) and a bottle of Spanish sparkling wine – the Spanish equivalent of Italian prosecco.

What was left of the Spanish pork sausage before I remembered to take a photo

The sausages were served simply grilled with various mustards and tomato sauce and home-made coleslaw.  I made the coleslaw with extra onions to cut through the richness of the sausages, and the sparkling wine was crisp and dry, which also complemented the salty dinner we had.

We were so excited I forgot to take a picture of the sausages before we ate !  Looking forward to visiting the restaurant and the deli to check out the other goodies Bilbao has to offer.

Bibao
111 Somerset Road #02-16 Singapore (formerly known as the PUB building)
Tel: 6737 0150