MY MUM'S LENTIL STEW ADAPTED BY ME

 

This is a recipe that my mother used to make but that I have adapted a little by looking at other recipes in Catalan cookbooks. It's a very tasty and comforting dish, but perhaps more suitable to eat in autumn-winter, as it has a lot of calories and is too heavy to eat when it's hot. It's really meant to be eaten as a single dish, and we'll only need a slice of bread to mop up the sauce, if that's what we like.

Ingredients

500g lentils

400g of pork ribs, cut into pieces and salted

2 thick slices of speck, cut thickly

200g of chorizo, without the skin and cut into thick rounds

2 carrots, thickly sliced

3 or 4 thick pork sausages, whole

1 onion, chopped

3 grated tomatoes or 400gr can

1 head of garlic, cut in half horizontally

1 bay leaf

1 sprig of fresh thyme

1 1/2 cups of white wine

1 teaspoon of smoked paprika

olive oil

salt, pepper

Method

Put the lentils to soak the day before. Drain the water and wash them well under the tap.

Preheat the oven to 170C.

Put oil in a big casserole suitable for the oven, such as a cast iron one. Add the pork ribs and cook until they begin to brown. Then, add the speck and the chorizo and cook until everything is slightly golden, stirring often to prevent to stick in the bottom of the pan.

Add the onion and carrot, and with a wooden spoon, stir everything well, and fry until the onion is tender.

Pour in the wine and deglaze the bottom of the pan. Reduce until the alcohol evaporates a little.

Add the tomato, paprika, thyme sprig, bay leaf and garlic head and season to taste. Mix everything very well. Let it cook on medium heat for about 5 minutes.

Add the lentils to the pan and mix well.

Add the water and the sausages and bring to a boil.

Cover the pan and put it in the oven for about an hour, or until the lentils are cooked to your liking.

Leave to rest for about 10 minutes and before serving, cut the sausages into big pieces.

Serve in a deep dish. 

Serves 4