Here is our recipe for a lentil stew that we often make. The vegetarian version is as good as the original. As any stew, it improves with time in the fridge.
Lentils
Yields 6 servings
1 large onions
1 large carrots
2 medium tomatoes
1 red pepper
500g of green lentils
1.5 litres of water (for better results: beef stock)
1.5 tbsp of Spanish paprika
2 bay leaves
1 tbsp of salt
1 head of garlic chopped in half
Pepper
75g pancetta
50g of beef bone marrow (optional)
100g of smoked chorizo (Asturian)
Method
1. Rinse the vegetable, peel onions and carrots.
2. Cut 10% of veg, chop into 1cm thick pieces and set aside.
3. Sauté the 90% left (whole, without chopping) in a pressure cooker with some olive oil until some browning is achieved.
4. Put 1 tbsp of oil on a tray, add chopped vegetables, lardons and bone marrow.
- Roast at 220C with convection until some charring can be seen on the vegetables.
- Mix if needed while roasting
- Half way through the cooking process, add chopped chorizo (1cm thick slices)
5. Add water and spices.
6. Once it boils, add lentils.
7. Close the pressure cooker and cook under max pressure for 10min
8. Turn off hob. Let cool down and release the pressure
9. Remove boiled vegetables from the cooker, blend them and return resulting purée to the cooker
10. Add half of the roasted veg/pancetta into the mix
11. Mix and adjust salt.
12. Plate and use rest of roasted veg and pancetta to decorate as a topping.
Vegetarian version
Replace meat by:
* 1 tbsp of miso paste
* Double the amount of veg.
Change method with:
* Roast all veg before cooking lentils. Then add 50% of them to the pot and cook with the lentils. Reserve the other half and chop into dices.
* Add in and mix the chopped veg once the lentils are cooked.
* Correct seasoning at the end. It might need more since there is no cured meat.
