Sausages with Green Lentils and Celeriac

Celeriac is one of my favourite winter vegetables, the nutty flavour of it marries so well with the green lentils here. This one pot frugal supper is perfect for the cold evenings, serve it alongside a chunk of good bread to soak up all the juices. Don’t omit the squeeze of lemon at the end - it really is the thing that brings the whole dish together. 

Serves 2

Ingredients:
4 Sausages
1 onion, sliced
2 bay leaves1 fat clove of garlic, crushed
1 small celeriac, or half a medium one (roughly 250g) cut into 1-2cm chunks
70g green lentils
375ml vegetable stock
100g cavolo nero
Half a lemon
Salt and Pepper
Oil

Method:

1. In a casserole dish, or large pan, heat one tablespoon of oil over a medium heat. Add the sausages and leave to brown for 8 minutes.

2. Once they have coloured and crisped up slightly, remove from pan and put to one side.

3. Using the same pan, turn the heat down low, add an additional tablespoon of oil if needed, then add the onions, garlic and bay leaves. Cover and leave to soften for 10 minutes. As the onions cook down, they should pick up all of the sausage flavour from the bottom of the pan.

4. Next, add the sausages back into the pan along with the lentils and stock and bring to the boil. Once there, turn down to a medium heat, add the celeriac and season. Cover and leave to simmer for 15 minutes.

5. Meanwhile, strip the cavolo nero of its woody stems and tear the leaves into rough 2cm strips.

6. Add the cavolo nero into the pan and cook for a final 4 minutes. By this point, the leaves will have softened, the celeriac should be soft to knifepoint and the lentils should still hold their shape.

7. Finish with the juice of half a lemon and a final season to taste.