Today, a recipe for a side dish: festive lentils.
The classic, tireless, and timeless pairing with zampone or cotechino can’t be missed during the holidays. Even if we’re stuffed, we all take a little. I, who love legumes, am crazy about them. Those my mother makes are truly exceptional. When we were little, I remember celebrating New Year’s Eve at my aunt’s house, and everyone asked my mother to bring her lentils. I often make them, not just for the holidays and every time that aroma takes me back to childhood, with ponytails, a red velvet dress, and ballet flats….
The creamy texture created while cooking the lentils makes it almost like a soup, and I’m sure you’ll have more than one spoonful because remember…… they bring good luck!
To complete your menu, you can prepare some excellent potato-free gnocchi with ragu and a succulent oven-baked chicken.
Let’s see together, step by step, how to make this recipe.
- Difficulty: Very Easy
- Cost: Very Cheap
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: 4
- Cooking methods: Stove
- Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients for Lentils
Below you will find the links of the ingredients used
- 7 oz lentils
- 1 carrot
- 1/2 onion
- 1/2 stalk celery
- 3 leaves bay leaf
- 3 grains pepper
- 3.5 oz pancetta
- 3.4 fl oz olive oil
- to taste fine salt
Tools
Below you will find links to some tools used to make the recipe
- 1 Knife
- 1 Cutting Board
- 1 Casserole
- 1 Ladle
Let’s Begin!
Let’s take the dry lentils, rinse them under running water, and cook them in plenty of water as indicated on the package. Mine required 20 minutes of cooking.
Meanwhile, take the carrot, peel it, and chop it finely, take the celery, clean it of filaments and dice it, then take the onion, clean it, and chop it finely. Take the peels and scraps obtained and put them in a saucepan with about 1 liter of water to make broth, put it on the fire and let it boil. The chopped vegetables instead are placed in a casserole with the oil.
When the lentils are ready, drain them, then turn on the stove under the casserole and sauté slightly, add the diced pancetta, bay leaves, and pepper grains, let it sauté and add a ladle of broth.
At this point, add the drained lentils and a ladle of broth, salt, and let cook over medium heat, when the broth has withdrawn, add another three ladles of liquid and let cook over very low heat for about twenty minutes, stirring occasionally and being careful not to let the cooking liquid reduce too much.
Remember to take a photo of your lentils and post it on social media tagging me (una riccia che pasticcia) to let me know if you’ll eat them with zampone or cotechino. I’m waiting for you and meanwhile HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!
Una Riccia Recommends
If you have leftover festive lentil side dish, you should know that it is exceptional for making excellent pasta and lentils. You’ll just need to cook small pasta like tubetti and then mix it with the lentils, adding a little cooking water. A true delight.
FAQ (Questions and Answers)
If I don’t eat meat, how do I prepare the lentils?
You can follow all the steps indicated, removing the pancetta, so your dish will be veg.
If I have little time to cook dry lentils, what can I do?
If you don’t want or can’t use dry lentils, you can use pre-cooked canned ones and then cook them with the sauté; they will be delicious just the same.
