I believe this is traditionally an Italian dish. Very economical, healthy and tasty. Of course, the original is quite basic, but I have some small modifications here to make it more varied.
Ingredients
The purpose of the additional spices that mimic the Italian sausage are to enhance those flavours in the dish.
Green or Brown lentils (1 cup, 200-250 mL)
Lentils (1 can rinsed) – skip Boil the lentils step
You will need to add enough water or stock to just cover the canned lentils
Onion (1 medium onion)
Garlic clove (2)
Oil (1-2 tbsp)
Celery (1 stalk)
Acorn Squash (½ cup)
Bay leaf (1 leaf)
Water / Stock (700-900 mL)
Thinly sliced Parsley garnish (1-2 tbsp per serving)
Italian sausage (2 links)
Sugar (1 tsp)
Black pepper (½ tsp)
Salt (½ tsp)
Oregano (½ tsp)
Optionally Crushed red chilli flakes (½ tsp)
Substitutions
You can use hot or sweet Italian sausage.
Method
Preparing the sausage
Remove the sausage from the casings
Add all the seasonings, mix well
Boil the lentils
Add x3 the amount of water/stock to dried lentils
Add bouillon cube if using water
Add the bay leaf
Bring water to a boil and simmer until the water reduces to the level of the lentils
Cook the sausage and assemble
In a large pot or pan, place the oil on medium-low to medium heat
Carefully add the seasoned sausage, and spread it out
Occasionally break apart, and check it doesn’t burn
Allow to cook until a there is a light golden brown on the sausage
Cook the sausage on the other side until similar
It doesn’t need to be uniform
Add in the onions, celery and squash
Sautee until onions are translucent
Once the sausage has some nice colour from cooking add the lentils
Cover and stew for 10 minutes to marry the flavours or until squash is fork tender
You may need to add additional water to keep it from drying out, so check on it
Serving
Place in a bowl and drizzle 1-2 tsp of your preferred oil
