Friday, July 17, 2009

Crockpot or Solar Cooker: Sausage and Lentil Casserole

Comfort food: I serve this with creamy mashed organic potatoes - divine! The quality of the sausage makes all the difference in this dish, so try to use the best you can afford. Beef sausages work just as well as lamb.




Ingredients

750g organic lamb or beef sausages, sliced
1/2 cup lentils of your choice
1 cup onion, diced
1/2 cup carrot, diced
1/2 cup celery, diced
800g tin diced tomatoes
2 cups water
pinch dried basil and oregano
bay leaf
1/2 tsp salt

Method:

1. Brown sausages in a pan, and drain fat off.

2. Add to the crockpot/ black solar cooker dishes with the remaining ingredients. Cook on low for 6-8 hours in a crockpot, or around 8 hours in a solar cooker.


11 comments:

Rose 17/7/09 9:45 AM  

There's tomorrow night's dinner. Thanks Julie. :-)

Darren (Green Change) 17/7/09 10:49 AM  

Yum! I love meals that are quick to throw together, and can be left cooking all day so there's nothing to do at dinner-time.

Do you have a solar cooker? If so, what type?

Julie 17/7/09 10:57 AM  

Hi Rose,
No worries :-)

Hi Darren,
I have a Fair Fabricators oven I bought from the Rainbow Power Co, although it's not been seeing much use lately! It's a mirror-reflector type. It's not exactly set-and-forget as you have to rotate it during the day to maximise the sun's reflection in the mirror, but it's barely any work to swivel it every few hours. Love it.

Cheers, Julie

Eilleen 17/7/09 3:53 PM  

Have I ever told you I'm jealous of your solar cooker? hehe

We're craving the same things (again) Julie! I am really going for the comfort food today. Mash potatoes, sausages etc.

Will have to try your recipe. yum!

Zie 18/7/09 7:39 AM  

Julie,

As a long time reader of your blog I was delighted when I came across Towards Sustainability highlighted in this month's Notebook magazine under their recommended blogs on Sustainability.

Congratulations Julie!

And welcome to any new readers

Zie

Zie 18/7/09 7:44 AM  

To further clarify, that's the August Notebook: that has just hit the shelves in the shops

Michelle 18/7/09 9:38 AM  

Hi, Could you tell me what sort of lentils (yep, Ok, I'm not a great cook!). Are they the red ones (dry) or tinned ones or...

It looks like a yummy recipe and I have some sausages to use :-)

Tricia 19/7/09 10:25 PM  

Hi Julie

I made this for dinner tonight. Yum! I used wild goat sausages. I'm still not 100% certain I liked the goat bit - has a bit of an aftertaste??? But the recipe did a great job of hiding the goat taste.

Mam 20/7/09 10:42 PM  

Thanks for a great recipe. Made it on top of the stove, as a soup. Even my DH who does not care for soup, admitted it was tasty. For the second batch I will add cheese tortelini.

Julie 21/7/09 10:01 AM  

Hi E,
I don't use it as much as I'd like to actually, as I worry a little that the kids will knock it and smash the mirror! I'm going to have to sort out a permanent, out-of-the-way spot for it.

Hi Zie,
Thanks for the tip! Must find a copy to read now LOL.

Hi Michelle,
Sorry to take so long to get back to you... It doesn't really matter which lentils you use, but if you use brown lentils, they will still be nice, robust and lentilly-looking in the finished casserole. Red lentils will go mushy but will thicken the sauce and make it equally delish - I use whatever I grab out of the cupboard first! Tinned lentils are fine too, just don't cook them for as long.

Hi Tricia,
Mmm, not a big fan of wild meat either - it's tastes too "gamey" for my uncultured palate LOL. Haven't had wild goat but my great uncle used to give us wild rabbits and ducks, I can imagine goat is even more robust! Did you get them from the markets? I love the concept of using feral goats that way.

Cheers, Julie

Julie 21/7/09 10:03 AM  

Hi Mam,
Yum, I wouldn't have thought of doing it as a soup but I can see that it would be beautiful and hearty, especially with some chunky bread :-) Mmmmm. Tortellini also sounds wonderful - would make a terrific vegetarian option without the sausage too I think?

Cheers, Julie

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