Struggling to decide what to make for dinner, I thought
about what I already had in my cupboard.
Paprika, oregano, sage, garlic, chillies and stock cubes. Granted, combined they wouldn’t be very
filling but what could I add to make a really tasty dish?!
I wandered the aisles of the supermarket and found myself
staring at the reduced section for inspiration. On the
first look there were only microwave meals but my timing was impeccable. A lovely fleeced gentleman wheeled across a
trolley full of reduced meat just before I gave up my search.
On the trolley: lamb (didn’t need to look at the cut, as
you’ve read before, to me lamb tastes like the smell of sweaty old men – that’s
out!), stir frying pork (looked a little shabby) and British pork
sausages.
“Mmm, yes, I do like a good sausage,” I thought.
With my decent girth sausages in my basket I was thinking
casserole. Hmm, not so great with the
chillies that needed using up.
Cue light bulb…“soup!”…
I then purchased a 1kg bag of sweet potatoes and a bag of
split red lentils. I spent 6 to 7 minutes battling with the self-service check out machine (don’t bother
using your own bag, the machine gets VERY angry…and the shop assistants will
follow shortly after!) and headed back to my flat for some wintery cooking.
Spicy Roast Sweet Potato and Sausage Soup
Ingredients (serves
4):
3 British pork sausages (or more, depends how much you like
sausage really!)
6 small sweet potatoes (or roughly 1kg)
200g of red split lentils
2 beef stock cubes
2 cloves of garlic
1 large red chilli
2 tbsp ground paprika
1 tbsp dried oregano
6 large fresh sage leaves (or equivalent)
Salt and olive oil
Natural yoghurt (for dressing)
Method:
1)
Start by turning up the TV in the lounge so you
can hear it in the kitchen (Masterchef the Professionals was on and it’s the
finals!!!). Or, recruit
someone to stand and talk to you in the kitchen (I’m running out of willing
volunteers for an ear bashing…apparently I talk a lot?!?!).
2)
Rinse the lentils in a sieve. Fill a large saucepan with water and drop in
the lentils. You should have roughly 5
parts water to 1 part lentils but if anything add more water than
necessary. Bring the lentils to boil for
10 minutes then allow them to simmer for 20 minutes.
3)
In the meantime, preheat your oven/grill to 200°C.
Make 3 small cuts into each side of your sausages and pop them until the
grill. They will need to cook for around
20 minutes to allow the fat the drain and the outsides to turn a nice crispy
brown colour. Once cooked, remove from the
grill and set to one side. Turn off the
grill element of the oven at this stage to prevent burning your potatoes.
4)
Peel your potatoes and cut them into
chunks. Place them evenly spread out on
a baking try and sprinkle both sides with a small about of salt and olive
oil. You don’t need a lot of oil, sweet
potatoes roast very easily. Pop these into
the oven on a shelf under the sausages and cook for 20-30 minutes until the outsides are
turning crispy and the insides are wonderful and soft.
5)
Finely slice your cloves of garlic and add these
to the roasting dish with your potatoes for the last 5 minutes of cooking.
6)
Once the lentils have been simmering for 20
minutes, stir in the chilli (finely sliced), oregano, paprika, roasted garlic and
roughly chopped sage (keep a small amout of sage for serving).
7)
Make 1 ½ pints of beef stock and stir this into
the lentils.
8)
I do not intend this to be a blended soup as I
like a little texture to my food, so at this stage, mash your sweet potatoes
and stir them into the saucepan.
9)
You will probably need to add a little salt at
this point but taste your soup and add as much or as little as you think is
necessary.
10) If you would prefer a blended soup, pour the mixture into a blender and
once blended smooth, return it to the pan.
11) Cut
the sausages into bite-size chunks and add these to the soup. Stir the soup until heated through.
12) Serve
with a dollop of natural yoghurt and a little sage.
Some useful hints and
tips I have learned from experience:
1) Remember that you have cut a chilli before
doing any of the following:
a. Touching your face
b. Removing your contact lenses
c. Eating something with your fingers
d. BOYS ONLY – taking a pee (this is not one
from MY OWN experience!)
2) Try not to:
a. Eat too many chunks of sweet potato before
adding them to your soup
b. Eat too many chunks of sausage before
adding them to your soup
3) Do:
a. Have some honey in the cupboard to finish
off your pot of natural yoghurt for dessert
b. Have left-overs for your work lunch or freeze
some for later
4) Being healthy:
a. Substitute a more lean mean for the sausage
b. Leave out meat entirely to make a tasty
Spicy Roast Sweet Potato and Red Lentil Soup
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