Last Friday we engaged in one of our favourite activities- watching 90s films and reminiscing about simpler times. When you’re a member of the lost generation sometimes it’s nice to think about how things could have been if we hadn’t been plunged into economic crisis. To combat the feelings of abject misery that can sometimes go along with such pondering, we often like to combine these activities with the consumption of delicious food; particularly comfort food. So it was that on a cold Friday evening a bunch of us gathered for a sausage and lentil stew coupled with the very excellent Empire Records, a film that shows a generation full of promise.
This recipe is taken adapted from one I once found on Food52– quite a good resource for new recipes. As I generally have several half used bags of lentils kicking around I mixed red and green lentils this time. I’ve made it before with just green lentils but I prefer this version as the red lentils give an excellent starchy quality that I didn’t have before. As always, more expensive sausages would have been tastier but hey- we’re on a budget. I definitely wouldn’t go cheaper than mid-range though as the sausages are a focal point in this dish and really processed wieners just won’t be good enough. One of my favourite things about this recipe is that you can use up old bacon fat from the fridge which makes it a) seem super frugal and b) extra delicious at the expense of c) health.
Serves 5 with leftovers.
Ingredients
1.5 litres of chicken stock (doesn’t need to be homemade but better if it is)
10 sausages
500 grams of lentils
1 butternut squash (peeled and cubed)
6 sticks of celery (chopped)
5 pellets of frozen spinach
1 medium sized red onion (chopped coarsely)
3 cloves garlic (chopped)
1 glass of red wine
2 glugs of red wine vinegar
red wine vinegar to serve
3 tablespoons bacon fat (or olive oil if you like your heart and stuff)
Method
Step 1: Start to fry your sausages in oil (or bacon fat if you are frugal enough) in the pot you intend to use for the stew. Once they begin to brown remove, slice, and continue to brown until slightly crispy. Remove with a spoon, being careful to leave as much grease as possible.
Step 2: Fry the onions and the garlic in oil until they begin to turn translucent. Meanwhile roast the butternut squash in the oven at 200 degrees until it begins to caramelise. Add the celery to the onions now and continue to cook.
Step 3: In a separate pot begin cooking to lentils in about 750 millilitres of water, and heat up your stock in yet another pan. Once the celery loses some of its firmness add the red wine and deglaze the pan. Combine the lentils and stock with the onion / garlic / celery mix. Add the red wine vinegar at this point.
Step 4: Once the lentils have softened and the stew is nearly at the desired thickeness add the butternut squash. It’s likely that it will fall apart in the stew which is fine- you’re looking for the flavour rather than big chunks of squash. Once the stew is at the desired thickness add the frozen spinach.
Step 5: Once the spinach is evenly distributed (and totally thawed) dish out the stew. Serve with sliced bread (we used baguettes) and butter.
Cost: Pretty cheap. The stew itself cost £7.75 to make so assuming that there are 7 portions (we had two leftover) then your cost per serving is about £1.11. We made minor 
savings by using bacon fat rather than olive oil, but had increased expenditure on homemade chicken stock. The original recipe also calls for carrot (which is undoubtedly cheaper) which could also bring down the price. For maximum cheapness you could make this stew with store-bought stock, carrots rather than squash, and not use sausages. I wouldn’t want to miss out on the meaty-ness though.
Peace out ya’ll
Cutback Charlie
austerilicious 