My fridge is almost completely empty. There are still plenty of jars of things, but nothing fresh other than milk. My cupboards are full of grains, pulse and spices and the freezer is stocked with various meats, but I usually like a bit of green with my red and brown so I am not even trying to be inspired to make a meal out of it.
Monday is usually shopping night, but I had a bit too much to drink over the weekend and was feeling lazy and tired. I also spent too much money, which paired with the big bills this month means I am on a bit of a budget.
In my lethargic state I spent the evening trawling the 100s of blogs in my Google reader drooling over dishes I had no intention of cooking or hope of eating any time in the near future... until I got to Cheaper by the oven.
Cheaper by the oven is all about encouraging students to eat well by providing good recipes that can be made on the cheap, “so there’s plenty left for your booze budget.” Well, I had already blown my booze budget so this sounded like as good a reason as any to have a proper look.
Amazingly, the most recent post, would you bang’er, had a recipe I could make without a trip to the supermarket.
“Hello cupboards, hello freezer. I think you will be coming in handy.”
Out with the extra pack of sausages from when they were 2 for £4 at Sainsbury’s. Out with the extra bacon. Time to use up the puy lentils. Time for the not so new potatoes.
I pretty much followed the recipe to a T with the addition of some fresh thyme (cause I have it on the balcony), less onion (cause I only had one), and puy lentils rather than brown (cause that is what I had in the cupboard).I also used chicken stock rather than water for extra flavour, but again this is because I had some in the freezer.
he nice thing about this recipe is that it could easily be adjusted according to the contents of your cupboard. I was tempted to add some smoked paprika or chilli to the mix, but it was already tasting mighty fine so I decided less was more in this case. For the same reason, I skipped the Dijon.
I think it is a testament to the site that I was able to make such a nice meal out of what I had previously deemed to be a hopeless pizza delivery situation. And it was absolutely delicious.
Proper, hearty British food. No frills. (Not necessary).
I have amended the recipe below to reflect the minor changes I made to the ingredients and method – you can find the original here. I served the stew with potatoes, but a hunk of crusty bread to mop up the juices would have done just as well, if not better. Serves four generously.
Ingredients
1 tbsp olive oil
12 sausages
1 onion, halved and thinly sliced
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
200g smoked bacon
200g puy (or brown) lentils
400g tin chopped tomatoes
600ml chicken stock
Small bunch fresh thyme, woody stems removed and finely chopped
Salt and pepper, to taste
Method
Heat the in a heavy bottomed saucepan over a medium-low heat. Add the sausages and lightly brown on all sides. Remove and put to one side.
Turn the heat down to low and add the onions and garlic. Sweat for a few minutes, then turn the heat up a bit and add the bacon. Cook until the fat has run and the bacon starts to brown, stirring continuously.
Wash the lentils and add them to the saucepan along with the tomatoes and stock. Once the mixture starts to boil, add the sausages and turn down to a gentle simmer. Cover and cook for 30-40 minutes, or until the lentils are cooked. Add the fresh thyme and season with salt and pepper.
Vix