A French recipe for green lentils cooked with sausages. This is a family one-pot recipe.
It's one of my favorite winter-time dinner meals. My mum would prepare it every once in a while for us.
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📕 What are French Green Puy Lentils?
The french green lentils are an important ingredient in the french homemade local cuisine.
They are better known as Lentille vert du Puy, which translates in green lentils from puy.
The dark green lentils grow in the Auvergne, a region in France located south-central.
To be more precise, the puy lentils are a European-origin protected and controlled crop (AOC and PDO) to the Velay district and the capital Puy-en-Velay (hence the name).
That means, only the green lentils from that region can be called and sold under the name green puy lentils.
These lentils are special because they have been grown in this ancient region since Roman times.
The area is known for a hot and dry climate, which results in fresh and tender green lentils that have thinner outer skin.
Therefore french green lentils are known to cook through faster and they stay juicy on the inside while still retaining a certain bite.
🧅 Ingredients
US and metric measurements are located in the recipe card further below.
- French green lentils - also known as puy lentils
- onion
- garlic - fresh, always fresh. 🙂
- carrot
- leek
- butter or lard - lard is more flavoreful but hard to come by
- sausages - any, I like Wiener. (see FAQs)
- stock or vegetable broth
- water
- bay leaf
- thyme - dried or fresh
- salt
- black pepper
- dijon mustard - optional, but adds a lot of flavor and thickens the dish (emulsifying properties)
Parsley can be used to garnish the dish but I don't think it's required.
🔪 How to make it?
Here is an overview of how to make this from scratch asap. Full instructions in the recipe card are further below.
Step 1
Rinse lentils and keep to soak for 30 minutes.
Prep all the produce. Cut the onions, chop garlic, dice carrot, and leek
Step 2
Saute onion, garlic, leek, and carrot. Add sausage.
Stir in lentils, seasoning, stock, and water. Mix it all well.
Step 3
Cook it all down, covered at first, until lentils are cooked through and the dish is ready.
Season with salt and black pepper, add the dijon mustard.
Take out the whole bay leaf and discard. Serve up hot.
🍴 Serving
The french lentils with sausage are great on their own. I love to serve it up in a bowl, it makes it all the more wholesome.
I also recommend serving with that freshly baked bread or some kind of whole wheat bread, such as our spelt bread.
As a salad, you can serve a simple green lettuce salad and vinaigrette dressing with that.
The dressing adds a nice tang to the meal combination.
🍱 Storing
Sometimes I prepare a large batch for the week in advance. You can do that too and store your green lentil sausage meal in glass containers.
Keep the meal prepping containers in the fridge for up to 6 days.
Reheat it in your oven, over the stovetop, or microwave.
The containers can be frozen too and to thaw and reheat just place the lentils with sausages frozen into your oven, stovetop pan, or microwave and give it some extra time to heat up completely.
💭 FAQs
The soaking shortens the cooking time, helps in bringing out all the flavors and the lentils are better digested when soaked. You can skip it but I recommend that you soak your lentils first.
Yes, just switch the sausages with bacon. The bacon can be fried with the onions at the beginning of the recipe preparation to bring out the flavors all the more.
I love adding Wiener/Frankfurter sausages but you can also add Kielbasa, Smokies, or chicken sausages.
Yes, just skip adding any meats and use vegetable or olive oil instead of butter or lard.
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📖 Recipe
French Green Lentils with Sausage
Ingredients
To soak lentils
- 1 cup French Green Lentils aka Puy Lentils
- 1 cup Water
To cook lentils
- 1 Onion medium
- 1-2 Garlic Cloves
- 1 Carrot medium
- ½ Leek medium
- 2 Tablespoon Butter or Lard
- 2 piece Sausages *see Notes
- 1 cup Stock or Broth, *see Notes
- 1 cup Water
- 1 Bay Leaf small
- 2 Teaspoon Thyme dried or fresh
- 1 Teaspoon Salt taste if it needs more
- ¼ Teaspoon Black Pepper
- 1 Tablespoon Dijon Mustard optional
- Parsley to garnish, optional
Instructions
- Place lentils and water in a bowl to soak lentils. Soak for about 30 minutes. That way the lentils will cook through better, take in more flavor and it will be easier for you to digest.1 cup French Green Lentils, 1 cup Water
- Slice onion, chop garlic, slice carrot, cut leek small. Keep aside.1 Onion, 1-2 Garlic Cloves, 1 Carrot, ½ Leek
- Heat up a pot with the butter and sauté first onion soft. Then add garlic and sauté for 1-2 minutes over a medium heat setting.1 Onion, 2 Tablespoon Butter or Lard, 1-2 Garlic Cloves
- Stir in the carrot and leek and continue to sauté over a medium heat setting.1 Carrot, ½ Leek
- Reduce heat a bit. Place sausages in and stir in lentils.2 piece Sausages
- Pour in stock and water (sorry forgot to show the water in the video). Season with thyme and add the bay leaf.1 cup Stock, 1 cup Water, 1 Bay Leaf, 2 Teaspoon Thyme
- Mix it all and increase heat to a medium setting. Cover to cook.
- Simmer and cook for about 30-40 mins or until the lentils are soft and you are satisfied with the consistency. *see Notes
- Season with salt and black pepper. Stir and mix in the Dijon mustard.¼ Teaspoon Black Pepper, 1 Teaspoon Salt, 1 Tablespoon Dijon Mustard
- Take out and discard the bay leaf.
- Serve up hot and enjoy. Parsley can be used as a garnish.Parsley
Notes
- The sausage can be substituted with bacon pieces, about 3.5 ounces/100 grams bacon.
- You can use beef or pork stock, or vegetable broth.
- Note that the french green lentils don't turn mushy, they hold their shape when you cook them, even if you cook them for a longer time.
- The Dijon mustard is optional but I recommend adding it. It adds flavor and mustard is a natural emulsifier, which means the consistency will turn out thicker.
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