Puy & Green Lentil Stew with Sage Dumplings

serves

Serves 4

time

1 hour 45

level

Beginner

Serve up this stew on any day of the week for a flavoursome and hearty meal full of protein and fibre and an abundance of phytonutrients. The key to this stew is to keep most of the ingredients quite chunky.

Recipe & Photography by The Bare Scientist

Ingredients

FOR THE STEW
1 x 250g pouch of Merchant Gourmet Tomatoey French Puy & Green Lentils
1 x 250g pouch of Merchant Gourmet of Simply Cooked Puy Lentils
2 tbsp olive oil
1 large brown onion, diced
4 cloves of smoked garlic (normal is fine)
4 large rainbow carrots, peeled and cut into chunky rounds
1 large sweet potato, cut into chunky cubes
2 stalks of celery, thinly sliced
½ red and ½ yellow bell pepper, roughly chopped into chunky cubes
1 x 300g can of cannellini beans
1 x 400g can of tinned tomatoes
250ml stock
2 tbsp tomato puree
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
Salt, pepper, chilli powder, dried mixed herbs to taste

FOR THE DUMPLINGS

240g plain flour
1 tsp each of salt and pepper
1/4 cup of dried mixed herbs
1/4 cup olive oil
1 ½ cups of water
10g fresh sage leaves roughly chopped, plus a few extra to garnish
Another 1 tbsp olive oil

Instructions

Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a large and deep cast iron pot or casserole pot over a high heat, adding roughly chopped chunky onions, cooking for 2-3 minutes before adding in minced garlic.
Add in the chopped carrots and sweet potato, frying down for a further 5 minutes. Add in 1 tsp each of salt and pepper, and a good amount (approximately ¼ dried mixed herbs. Follow on by adding in celery and bell peppers and leave to cook for a further 15 – 20 minutes.
Add in canned chopped tomatoes, tomato purée and stock to the pot. Stir thoroughly and leave to simmer for a further 5 minutes.
Following this, add and stir in drained and rinsed cannellini beans and Merchant Gourmet Tomatoey French Puy & Green Lentils and Puy Lentils. Reduce the heat to medium-low and leave to simmer gently for 15 minutes.
Whilst the stew is now simmering prepare the dumplings. Add flour, salt, pepper and dried mixed herbs to a mixing bowl, forming a well. Pour the olive oil and chopped fresh sage into the well and start to fold the flour inwards towards the well, adding the water slowly whilst forming the dough. Once the dough has come together, form into a ball and add a little extra water if too dry or a little more flour if too wet. Knead until smooth and elastic. Twist and tear off golf ball sized pieces of dough and roll into little balls (you should accomplish at least 8).
Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 6 (200°C). Place the dumplings on top of the levelled stew and put into the oven to cook for a further 30 minutes. You can either cover the pot so the dumplings steam or leave the pot uncovered the whole time or part of the time for more golden dumplings.
Whilst the stew and dumplings are cooking, heat a pan over a medium-hire fire with olive oil and add minced garlic. Fry this off for no longer than 1 minute as you do not want the garlic to burn. Add in a dash of water (approximately 2 tbsp), followed by roughly chopped cavolo nero and more water (approximately ½ cup). Season with salt and pepper to taste, and cook for approximately 10 – 15 minutes or until the leaves turn a darker green and start to wilt.
Once the dumplings are cooked through, remove the pot from the oven and place the sage leaves set aside for garnish into the remaining tbsp of olive oil and lay flat on a baking tray. Place these into the oven on the top shelf and cook until crispy to the touch (takes about 3 – 5 minutes as the leaves are quite thick but keep an eye on them). These will be place on top of the stew and dumplings and work lovely as little extra pockets burst of flavour between fork or spoonfuls of the stew, dumplings and cavolo nero.