New Year Lentil Stew for Good Luck
In Argentina and Italy you eat lentils at midnight because each one stands for a coin: a stew with paprika sausage, bacon, vegetables and lentils that stay whole. The two things that decide the outcome: salt only at the end —added early it hardens the skin and leaves the inside raw— and a barely visible simmer, because a hard boil bursts them.
Ingredients
- 400 g lentils
- 1 paprika sausage (chorizo), sliced
- 150 g bacon, diced
- 1 onion, 1 carrot and 1 red pepper, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic
- 2 potatoes, diced
- 1 tin chopped tomatoes (400 g)
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 tsp sweet paprika
- Salt and pepper
- Olive oil
- Optional: 1 pork knuckle or a ham bone, for more depth
Method
- 1
Render the bacon in the pot with a splash of oil until the fat runs. Lift out and set aside.
- 2
Brown the chorizo in that same fat. Lift it out too: cooking the vegetables in those juices starts the stew on a different level of flavour.
- 3
Soften the onion, carrot and pepper. Add the garlic and paprika and stir for 30 seconds off the heat, so the paprika does not burn.
- 4
Add the tomatoes, bay leaf and the lentils —rinsed, no soaking needed— along with the bacon and chorizo.
- 5
Cover with water or stock two fingers above and bring to the boil. Drop straight to the lowest setting.
- 6
Simmer for 40 minutes with barely a bubble. Boil it hard and the lentils break and the stew turns to purée.
- 7
Add the potatoes and cook another 20 minutes, until tender.
- 8
Only now season with salt and pepper. Salt at the start hardens the lentil skin and leaves it raw inside no matter how long you cook it.
- 9
Rest off the heat for 10 minutes before serving. It is better the next day.