A Visit to Shelburne Farms

A few years ago my father in-law gave me a copy of the then newly published Cooking With Shelburne Farms: Food & Stories from Vermont, by Melissa Pasanen with Rick Gencarelli. It has turned out to be one of my favorite cookbooks. The photography is great, the recipes are straight forward and I greatly appreciate the emphasis on local food and agriculture.

I had tried a variant of the lamb sausage and lentils a while ago and really enjoyed it, so when the Wife and I picked up some lamb sausage last week I decided to revisit the recipe this time following the version in the cookbook.

Lamb Sausage and Lentils

2 cups small green lentils, rinsed and picked over for stones

6 cups water

1 tsp coarse salt

2 sprigs fresh rosemary plus 2 tsp minced rosemary

1 lb. lamb sausage (avoid strong flavors like mint!) casing removed

3 tbsp olive oil

2 med. leeks thinly sliced

1 tbsp stone ground mustard

2 tbsp cider vinegar

black pepper to taste 

4 slices of crusty bread, chopped into coarse crumbs

INSTRUCTIONS

In a large saucepan over medium heat combine the rosemary sprigs, salt water and lentils bring to a boil, reduce the heat to a simmer and cook until tender (about 25 minutes), drain and reserve about a 1/2 cup of the cooking liquid.

While the lentils are cooking, pre-heat the oven to 400. In a large sauté add a tsp of olive oil and cook meat until it starts to color add the leeks and cook until meat is browned and leeks are golden.

Distribute the drained lentils into a shallow 2 or 3 qt baking dish. Add the sausage and leeks, mustard and cider vinegar. Stir and add the the reserved lentil liquid to moisten, adjust the seasoning to taste.

Toss the bread with the remaining olive oil and minced rosemary, strew over the top of the lentils and sausage. Bake for 20 minutes until bread crumbs are crisp and golden.