Dom in the Kitchen Homepage

Recipes from my Lincolnshire kitchen

bonfire bangers, pumpkin and lentil stew

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… you can probably tell how much i’m loving my slow-cooker by how much i’ve been using it but you know how it is with any new toy… you play with it for a while but inevitably you soon get bored and it sits there gathering dust… thankfully I don’t feel this about the slow cooker and with results like this who can blame me?  I’m having immense fun being inventive with it and discovering just how much can be cooked in it without it all looking and tasting like brown sludge.  of course, with the weather now finally in full autumnal mode I am using it to cook a lot of stews but i’m branching out every day and the amount it’s saving me in electricity costs must be quite impactful…

… I do realise however that not everyone has a slow-cooker so for every slow-cooker method I will include a short regular cooking method or a link back to a similar recipe where i’ve cooked the dish without a slow-cooker…

bonfire bangers, pumpkin and lentil stew
now halloween is out the way there’s an awful lot of pumpkin that gets chucked out and to be frank we’re quite right to throw the stuff away.  Those giant carving pumpkins are tasteless and full of water and any flesh taken from these need a gentle roasting in plenty of olive oil and herbs before the come anywhere near tasty… but if you hunt high and low there are some gloriously tasty small pumpkins and squashes out there that have wonderfully dark and nutty flavours that work superbly well in soups and stews

enough for 4 large bowls or 6 smaller mugs
1 medium onion – diced
1 medium butternut squash or the equivalent left-over pumpkin carvings – diced
1 carrot – diced
1/2 a swede – diced
100g red lentils
1 400g tin chopped tomatoes
1 pint stock made up with 3/4 pint of vegetable stock and 1/4 pint of white wine
8 medium hand-made pork sausages
seasoning and fresh herbs of your choice

start by gently browning the sausages in a deep frying pan, you want to give them a nice golden brown colour

if you’re using the slow-cooker simply place all of the above ingredients (except for the fresh herbs) plus the browned sausages into the bowl of the slow cooker, place the lid on and cook on low for 6 hours – throw in the herbs half an hour before the end.

the easiest way to cook this the conventional way is to place all the ingredients into a large casserole dish with the browned sausages on top and place in an oven on roughly 140C for 3 to four hours.

i’m serving my stew with some homemade fennel bread which was made simply using my low-knead method… once it’s had it’s first prove, knead again, sprinkling a teaspoon of fennel seeds into the dough, then generously oil a square baking tin and place the dough into the tin like a focaccia and let it rise again for 30 mins – spritz the top with a little oil and then sprinkle with more fennel seeds and a little salt before baking on 200C for 10 mins and then reducing to 180C for 20 mins

this month the Tea Time Treats bloggers challenge, hosted by Karen from Lavender and Lovage and Jane from Hedgecombers has the theme of Bonfire Night so this dish fits in beautifully, I am also entering it into the Slow Cooked Challenge hosted by Janice from Farmersgirl Kitchen although i’m actually linking up to Janice’s challenge before she’s set her theme so I may be slightly disqualified…

eat and of course enjoy!

… a little note about comments… as many of you will have noticed, last month I switched my commenting over to google+ comments.  I wanted to experiment with a different communing system but to be quite frank I didn’t like it.  I don’t really get google+ and even though I have an account and it links my blog I never use it as a social media platform and after so after giving it a full month and doing a lot of research I have decided to switch back to the regular blogger platform comments system…. the only issue with this switch back is that all the comments anyone has made on the blog in the past month via google+ will disappear.  You will still be able to read them via my google+ profile but not here – one of the many reasons why it’s a flawed system which i’m not happy with.  Anyone who wants to chat more about my choice feel free to send me an email to chat about it…

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Comments

  1. Karen S Booth says

    YUP! This is the recipe for me Dom and I KNEW you would love that slow cooker too – they are so helpful and easy to use for busy people! GREAT recipe! Karen

  2. Kate@whatkatebaked says

    What a great supper to return to after an evening out lighting bonfires and watching the sky illuminate with glorious fireworks!

    PS: Totally get the google+ thing- it doesn't seem user friendly, useful etc.

  5. Mark Willis says

    I love the sound of that dish, Dom (though it wouldn't do for us at present because Jane is temporarily on a low-fibre diet!), and I totally agree with you about Google+. Invented just for the sake of inventing something, I suspect. 🙁

  6. Janice Pattie says

    You are so cheeky Dominic! The Slow Cooker Challenge will be up tomorrow and I'm sure you will be able to find some way to fit this recipe in to the challenge theme 😉

  11. Kate Glutenfreealchemist says

    It's no good…… I will have to invest in a slow cooker!!! And this time I can see that they are definitely sausages and not sausage croutons!!! LOVE the sound of this and absolutely perfect for bonfire night!

  12. Tricia Buice says

    Wow everything looks wonderful. The crust on that bread has me drooling. Bangers – one of my husbands favorite add-ins to anything. We're heading to Ireland later this week so I am sure he will be ordering the traditional bangers and mash. Slow cooker recipes are so wonderful!

  15. ๓คקเ says

    I love pumpkins of every kind and description, and often cook stews IN them. I nevervtried them with lentils, however, but something tells me that I'm going to, very soon! 😉
    Only, I think I'll substitute the tomatoes with curry: just a matter of personal taste. 🙂
    Thanks a lot!