Sausage and Lentils

Lentils are making a resurgence not only in the blogsphere, but also in the Klis family kitchen. The very first time I ever cooked with lentils, I opened a can of them and dumped them right into some soup. Not very rustic-romantic-lentily. This time around, I gave it a better go. Lentils are healthy and filling, and relatively affordable, however the Mr. will be the first to tell you they are "bland". So when making lentils, don't be afraid of giving them pizazz. For something new, lentils are excellent when mixed with a bit rice, seasoned up with smoked paprika, and tossed with roasted sweet potatoes, but the old standby sausage and lentil combination never goes out of style. If you're a lentil first-timer, it might be a good place to start.

Sausage and Lentils

Ingredients:
1 lb lentils
1 small onion, peeled and halved
2 bay leaves
5 cloves of garlic, smashed
2 beef bullion cubes
1 package smoked kielbasa
1 zucchini
olive oil
1 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp garlic powder
salt
pepper

Method:

Rinse and sort through the lentils to remove any strange-looking ones. Cover the lentils with 1-2 inches of water. Drop in the onion halves, bay leaves, and bullion cubes. Bring to boil, and cook uncovered for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, cut the kielbasa into bite size, or whole-mouth size, pieces. Place them in a hot pan over medium-high heat, drop in a 1/3 C water, and let the water cook away and the skins crisp. Slice the zucchini in half lengthwise, then slice into pieces. Toss with olive oil, cumin, garlic powder, salt and pepper, and throw them in the pan with the sausages.

Drain the lentils, if necessary, and discard the bay leaves and onion. Season with salt and pepper. Serve with crisped sausages and zucchini.



May I also mention that using kielbasa in this makes me really appreciate my Polish friends and their wonderful heritage of food? Oh, and my heritage by marriage (I wanted to say "marritage" here, but no one would probably think it's as funny as I do...). Yes folks that's right. Klis is the easiest, shortest, Polish name you will ever see; somehow, people still mispronounce it. I'm still working on getting the Mr. to take my name. He's held off for a good year and a half now, but a girl can still hope :)