Lentil And Sausage Casserole

The friendliest place on the web for anyone that enjoys cooking.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

CrazyCatLady

Sous Chef
Joined
May 30, 2014
Messages
530
Location
NC
Preheat oven to 400F.

I use ovenproof ramekins for this recipe, because you'll want the sausages to nestle in with the lentils.

Ingredients:

1 cup cooked lentils (or barley)

1 pound link sausages

1 cup sharp cheddar cheese

Chopped red onion (about 2 tsp per ramekin)

Garlic, minced or powder, to taste (2 pinches powder per ramekin)

Sage to taste (about 1 tsp each ramekin)

Cracked black pepper

1 large bay leaf

2 slices thick bacon, crumbled

Directions:

Boil the lentils or barley with the sage, cracked black pepper and a bay leaf. Remove the bay leaf after cooking. Drain. Chop the onion finely.

While it is boiling, fry the bacon and drop the sausage links in boiling water and simmer for 10 minutes. When done, drain the sausage and pat dry.

Crumble the bacon and add it, the garlic, and the onion to the drained lentils or barley in a bowl. Mix well.

Cut the sausage links into 1/4" slices. Put the lentil or barley mix into each ramekin, and top this with the sausage slices.

Bake the ramekins until the sausage turns brown, and turn off the oven. Sprinkle the cheese over each ramekin, and when the cheese melts, remove them from the oven. Let stand for about 5 minutes.

This was one of my Mom's and my favorites, but it's probably one heck of an artery-clogger lol!
 
Sounds good, CrazyCatLady, thank you for sharing. :yum: I love lentils, and I love sausage! For me, I would probably just go ahead and make everything in one pot, because I live alone. Although I love the ramekin idea and think it would be fun for multiple diners!
 
This sounds good. I may use it as a starting point for a dinner. I have some bulk sausage that needs cooked so I may do this but use the bulk instead of links and stir it in before spooning into the dish.
 
Any kind of link sausage works, and you can use kielbasa and brats too, if you're making it for a lot of people.
 
I don't pre-cook my lentils when I make a similar dish, as they cook quickly and absorb all of those yummy flavors when everything is baked together. I've never thought to add cheese though. Interesting!
 
Many years ago when my niece and her new husband were setting out to conquer the world, they made a dish with lentils. I think it was a salad. I fell in love with it and couldn't get enough. I haven't had lentils since then. Time to introduce myself back to them. And this sounds like something I could love. I always have little link sausages on hand. Along with all the other ingredients except for the lentils. So on the grocery list they go.

Now the question is, are there different kinds of lentils and if so what kind should I get? :angel:
 
Three most common kinds:

- regular (brown lentils) cook in about 20 minutes, they're probably the most common kind, used in soups / stews, they tend to break-up (kind of dissolve) as they're cooked

th


- lentils du puy are smaller and a dark green color, take about 35-45 minutes to cook, these are great for salad-type dishes because they remain firm and keep their shape after being cooked
lentilles-du-puy-300x225.jpg


- red lentils are smallest of these listed, they cook in about 30-minutes, and these really get mushy after cooking, so they're a staple in soups, I generally associate them with spicy-ish dishes with flavors from India (curry, coconut milk, cilantro, etc)

img_270012.jpg


Adding black beluga lentils, too! They used to be harder to find, at least for me, but they were actually in the bulk bins at one of my grocery stores a few weeks ago. They're pretty small, they're easy to over-cook, it only takes about 15 minutes. I love to toss some into a frittata, add them to green salads, or just use them as part of a "bean" salad. I should use them in a soup to see how they work.

Beluga_black_lentil_burgers_10.jpg
 
Last edited:
Back
Top Bottom