Braised Sausage, Lentils and Fennel Recipe

One-pot dinners are very much in — not just in our house but globally, it seems. We all want ease, speed and less washing up. I’m fully on board. One of my favorite Cypriot dishes has always been faki, a lentil and rice recipe, and this is essentially that but with sausages. It’s a meal I make for my daughters, but one we all appreciate. I have given a range for how many sausages you’ll need to make this recipe. Supermarket sausages often come in packs of six, and that’s a good number if you’re feeding people of different ages. However, if your family is older, bigger or hungrier, use as many as you like. —Georgina Hayden 

Braised Sausage, Lentils and Fennel

Serves 4

Ingredients

• Olive oil
• 6-8 sausages
• 2 onions
• 4 garlic cloves
• 1 large or 2 small fennel bulbs
• 1 teaspoon fennel seeds
• 1 pinch Aleppo pepper (or ½ teaspoon dried red chili flakes)
• 1 heaped tablespoon tomato purée
• ⅔ cup wine (red or white is fine)
• 2 (14-ounce) tins green lentils
• ⅔ cup beef or chicken stock
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

AARP (Courtesy Bloomsbury)

Directions

Preheat your oven to 410°F. Place a large flameproof casserole or wide ovenproof frying pan on medium-low heat and drizzle in a little olive oil. Fry the sausages for about 8 minutes, turning, until browned all over.

While the sausages are browning, peel and finely slice the onions and garlic. Trim the fennel, reserving any nice fronds, and cut the bulbs into wedges. Crush the fennel seeds.

When the sausages are browned, remove them to a plate. Add the fennel wedges to the pan and turn the heat up a little. Fry so they brown, then stir in the onions, garlic and fennel seeds. Sauté for 5 minutes, then stir in the Aleppo pepper and tomato purée. Fry, stirring, for a minute, then add the wine. Bring to the boil and simmer for a few minutes, till reduced by half, then stir in the tinned lentils, including their liquid, with the stock and red wine vinegar, and season well. Pop the browned sausages on top, bring to the boil and then cover with a lid. Transfer the pan to the oven and cook for 10 minutes. Remove the lid from the pan and cook, uncovered, for 15 to 20 minutes, until everything is nicely browned and the lentils are thickened. Serve scattered with the reserved fennel fronds.

Excerpted from Greekish: Everyday Recipes with Greek Roots. Used with the permission of the publisher, Bloomsbury. Copyright © 2024 by Georgina Hayden. Photography by Laura Edwards.