Stewed lentils
Stewed lentils are a popular healthy and tasty side dish. Traditionally the star of New Year’s Eve dinner, this is an easy recipe to make and gives a delicious dish that is good to eat on any occasion. It can be served with meat main courses but also as a first course.
Together with cotechino and zampone (pig’s trotter) stewed lentils are the symbolic dish of the New Year’s Eve dinner, traditionally served on the night of the passage to the new year as a good luck food and “money holder”. From a nutritional point of view lentils are indeed very precious, as they are rich in vegetable proteins, fibers and iron. Lentil is therefore a food whose consumption is strongly recommended.
Stewed lentils are evidently an excellent side dish for sausages and pork based main courses. This recipe can be varied with the simple addition of spices or aromatic herbs: curry, paprika, turmeric and ginger are very good, as well as rosemary, thyme and marjoram.
Lentils are used in cooking more or less like other legumes: they often end up as an ingredient in soups. This Lentil Vellutata includes both green and red lentils. Thanks to their size, lentils are ideal for preparing vegetarian or vegan alternatives to meat sauces and patties, such as in Maltagliati pasticciati al ragù di lenticchie and in Polpette di lenticchie e riso. Recipes with lentils are therefore very varied and always tasty.
INGREDIENTS For Stewed lentils
- 250 g lentils
- 30 g of diced bacon
- 1 onion
- 1 celery stalk
- 1 carrot
- 1 leaf of sage
- 400 g of tomato pulp
- extra virgin olive oil
- salt
- black pepper
HOW TO PREPARE: STEWED LENTILS
The first operation to be done in order to make stewed lentils is to soak the dried lentils in cold water for a few hours. Remove those that have come to the surface, drain all the others and collect them in a casserole. Cover them with cold water and boil them for 1 hour. Clean the vegetables and cut them into very small cubes.
Heat three tablespoons of oil in a pan, season the sage leaf with the bacon and add the diced vegetables. After 10 minutes add the chopped tomato pulp, or three fresh, red, ripe tomatoes, skinned, seeded and diced. Adjust salt and pepper, cook for 15 minutes.
Drain the boiled lentils, transfer to the sauté pan, stir and leave to gain flavor for at least 10 minutes.
Remove from the heat, transfer to a serving dish and serve the stewed lentils immediately.
Stewed lentils Step by step
- Prep Time: 20 MIN
- Cook Time: 1h 35 min
- Total Time: 1h 55 min
- Yield: 4 PORTIONS 1x
- Category: sidesdish
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: American,asian
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
Stewed lentils are a popular healthy and tasty side dish. Traditionally the star of New Year’s Eve dinner, this is an easy recipe to make and gives a delicious dish that is good to eat on any occasion.
Ingredients
- 250 g lentils
- 30 g of diced bacon
- 1 onion
- 1 celery stalk
- 1 carrot
- 1 leaf of sage
- 400 g of tomato pulp
- extra virgin olive oil
- salt
- black pepper
Instructions
- The first operation to be done in order to make stewed lentils is to soak the dried lentils in cold water for a few hours. Remove those that have come to the surface, drain all the others and collect them in a casserole. Cover them with cold water and boil them for 1 hour. Clean the vegetables and cut them into very small cubes.
- Heat three tablespoons of oil in a pan, season the sage leaf with the bacon and add the diced vegetables. After 10 minutes add the chopped tomato pulp, or three fresh, red, ripe tomatoes, skinned, seeded and diced. Adjust salt and pepper, cook for 15 minutes.
- Drain the boiled lentils, transfer to the sauté pan, stir and leave to gain flavor for at least 10 minutes.
- Remove from the heat, transfer to a serving dish and serve the stewed lentils immediately.
