Slow cooker Italian lentils with sausages and chilli

Name: Slow cooker Italian lentils with sausages and chilli
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 2 h
Total time: 2 h 20 min
Yield: Serves 4
Cuisine: Italian recipes
Ingredients: 6-8 Italian fennel pork sausages; 3 tbsp olive oil; 1 onion, finely chopped; 1 carrot, finely chopped; 2 celery sticks, finely chopped; 3 garlic cloves, chopped; 3 bay leaves; 1 tsp fennel seeds; Pinch chilli flakes; 250g small brown Italian lentils, such as castelluccio, or puy lentils (see ‘before you start’); 150ml red wine; 150ml vegetable or chicken stock; 20g bunch flatleaf parsley, chopped, to garnish

Portion size: Serves 4
Hands-on time 20 min. Slow-cook time 2 hours
Difficulty: easy

Dairy-free

Gluten-free

Recipe by: Food writer and chef, Charlotte PIke MBE

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This hearty Italian sausage and lentil stew recipe from Charlotte Pike only needs a little prep, before leaving your slow cooker to do the work.

Recipe taken from Quick Prep Slow Cook by Charlotte Pike (Hamlyn £16.99) and tested by delicious.

Take it easy with more wonderful slow cooker recipes.

Before you start

Find good Italian sausages at delis or look for Italian or Sicilian-style sausages in the supermarkets. Alternatively, use Toulouse-style sausages. Castelluccio lentils from Umbria are small with a nutty taste. If you can’t find any, you can use puy lentils instead.

To cook this on the hob, follow steps 1-3 but use a wide, deep frying pan set over a medium-high heat. Cover, turn the heat down to very low and cook for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the lentils are tender.

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Ingredients

6-8 Italian fennel pork sausages
3 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 carrot, finely chopped
2 celery sticks, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, chopped
3 bay leaves
1 tsp fennel seeds
Pinch chilli flakes
250g small brown Italian lentils, such as castelluccio, or puy lentils (see ‘before you start’)
150ml red wine
150ml vegetable or chicken stock
20g bunch flatleaf parsley, chopped, to garnish

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Method

If your slow cooker has the sear or braise function, switch it on. Add the sausages and the oil and fry, turning often, until brown all over. Or do this in a frying pan over a medium-high heat.
Add the onion, carrot, celery, garlic, bay leaves, fennel seeds and chilli flakes to the slow cooker/pan and fry for a minute or two. Season well with salt and pepper.
If you need to, transfer the mixture to the slow cooker, then add the lentils, wine and stock. Stir, put the lid on and cook on low for at least 2 hours, or until the lentils are tender and the sausages are cooked through.
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Season to taste and scatter over the chopped parsley.