This is a really gorgeous recipe from Gordon Ramsey. It’s simple to make and full of flavor.
Serves 4-6
Olive oil
6 Italian fennel sausages (or Toulouse sausages)
8 oz Chorizo sausages, halved lengthwise
4 garlic cloves peeled and sliced
2 fennel bulbs cut into large chunks
4 celery stalks trimmed and thickly sliced diagonally
4 carrots peeled and sliced diagonally
8 oz Puy lentils
2 fresh Bay Leaves
1 tbsp roasted and ground fennel seeds
2 fresh thyme sprigs
3 cups chicken stock
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Chopped flat-leaf parsley to garnish
Heat a large saucepan over medium heat and add a little oil. Cook the fennel sausages for 3–4 minutes until colored on all sides. Remove and set aside. Add the chorizo pieces, cut side down, and cook for 2–3 minutes until they start to release their colored oil and begin to crisp up. Turn over and color on the other side for a minute or two. Remove and set aside with the sausages.
Add the garlic, celery, carrots and ground fennel seeds to the pan and stir for 2 minutes until the garlic is tender. Stir in the lentils, then return the sausages and chorizo to the pan with the bay leaf and thyme sprigs. Stir well.
Add 2½ cups of the stock, then taste and season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer gently for 25–30 minutes until the sausages are cooked through, the lentils are tender, and the stock is well flavored. If the stock level drops too low while the lentils are cooking, top up with a little of the remaining stock.
Discard the bay leaf and thyme sprigs and serve the bollito misto in shallow bowls, garnished with the chopped parsley.
