Food Network: Italian Sausages with Lentils

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Italian Sausages with Lentils
Recipe courtesy Nigella Lawson, 2007

Ingredients
3 to 4 tablespoons olive oil (not extra-virgin),
divided
1 onion, finely chopped
Sprinkling salt
About 2 3/4 cups (about 18 ounces) dried Puy lentils
1 fat clove garlic, squished with the flat side of a knife, and skin removed
8 Italian sausage links
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon red wine
1/4 cup water
Flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped, for garnish

Instructions
For the lentils:
Put 2 to 3 tablespoons of the oil into a good-sized saucepan (and one that has a
lid that fits) on the heat and when it's warm, add the chopped onion. Sprinkle
with salt (which helps prevent its browning) and cook over low to medium heat
until soft (about 5 minutes). Add the lentils, stir well and then cover
generously with cold water. Bring to the boil, then cover and let simmer gently
for 1/2 an hour or so until cooked and most, if not all, the liquid's absorbed. I
don't add salt at this stage since the sauce provided by the sausages later (and
which will be poured over the lentils) will be pretty salty itself. So, wait and
taste. And remember, you can of course cook the lentils in advance.

Anyway, when either the lentils are nearly ready or you're about to reheat them,

put a heavy-based frying pan on the burner, cover with a film of oil and add the
bruised garlic. Cook for a few minutes then add and brown the sausages. When the
sausages are brown on both sides - which won't take more than 5 minutes or so -
throw in the wine and water and let bubble up. Cover the pan, either with a lid
or aluminum foil, and cook for about 15 minutes. Using a fork, mash the now-soft
garlic into the sauce and taste for seasoning, adding a little more water if it's
too strong.

Remove the lentils to a shallowish bowl or dish (I evacuate the sausages from
their cooking pan, plonk the lentils in, then proceed) then cover with the
sausages and their garlicky, winey gravy. Sprinkle over some flat-leaf parsley.