We have now made this dish several times and are ready to share it with you. We were originally inspired by this recipe. For this stew, though, we throw precise measurements to the wind! You can vary the amounts of any of the ingredients based on your tastes. Here is our ingredient list with baseline measurements:
Olive oil - enough to cover bottom of pan for browning
Sweet Italian Sausage - 1.3 pounds, or the equivalent of 3 large links
1-2 medium Onions - chopped
2-4 Celery stalks - sliced
2-4 large Carrots - halved and sliced
4-6 cloves Garlic - minced
Red pepper flakes or cayenne pepper
1-2 cups Lentils, rinsed
2-4 bay leaves
28 oz can of crushed tomatoes, or whole tomatoes that you can squeeze into smaller chunks
4-6 cups water
salt and black pepper to taste
4-6 cups Kale, cut into bite size pieces
Pecorino Romono cheese - grated to finish
Heat the olive oil in a large pot on medium heat. We like to use our 9qt round dutch oven. Once the oil is hot, add the sausage meat (no casings) and break it up with a spatula or wooden spoon. Heat the meat until it begins to brown, about 5 mins. Next, add the onion, celery, carrot, garlic, some salt and red pepper flakes or cayenne. Stir and cook another 5 minutes or so.
Add the lentils, bay leaves, tomatoes and water. Add half of the water first, stir and see how it looks. Add as much of the remaining water as you need, but not so much that it becomes watery. One of the first few times we made this, we thought it was too watery. You'll want a bit of a broth though because you'll be adding the kale at the end and you don't want it too thick so that you can't stir in the kale. Go with your gut on this one. You can always add a bit of water later on. Add the salt and pepper to taste and bring to a simmer. Cook for about 40 minutes. Taste to make sure flavors are right and that the lentils are cooked through. Then add the kale, stir and cook only a few minutes to soften the greens.
Divide into bowls and serve with a sprinkling of pecorino romano cheese. The original recipe suggested heating up some oil with garlic and drizzling on top. This is a lovely suggestion, but not necessary. We did this for the original serve, but when we ate the leftovers, we skipped this step out of laziness. So, you decide!
Again, you can adjust the ingredients to your liking. Or add something new to make the recipe your own!
Happy eating!
-The Hungry Horse
