For your recipes with pork, use a marinade with sweetened mustard, chiles, and pineapple flavors.
| Servings: | 6 |
| Yield: | 6 servings |
Ingredients
- 1 pound cotechino
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 bay leaf
- 8 whole black peppercorns
- 1 sprig fresh thyme
- 7 cups water
- 1 pound dry green lentils
- 1 onions, quartered
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 large carrot, quartered
- salt and pepper to taste
- 4 cups water
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 bunch fresh parsley, chopped
Instructions
- Pierce the cotechino with a fork in several places. In a large pot place the cotechino, chopped onion, 1 bay leaf, peppercorns and thyme. Cover with water and bring all to a boil. Reduce heat to low and let simmer for 45 to 50 minutes, if using fresh cotechino (for precooked cotechino, simmer for 20 minutes).
- In a large pot combine the lentils, quartered onion, garlic, bay leaf, carrot and salt and pepper to taste. Cover with the 4 cups of water. Bring all to a boil; cover, reduce heat to low and let simmer for 40 to 45 minutes or until lentils are soft. Add additional water if necessary.
- Remove the onion, garlic, bay leaf and carrot; discard. Spoon the lentils into a serving dish, drizzle with olive oil and slice rounds of the cotechino over the top. Sprinkle with fresh chopped parsley and serve.
Reviews
Always best to cook the lentils in vegetable stock or chicken stick it adds more flavour then just water and salt
I made this for New Year’s! I made the lentils in my IP. I sauteed onion, carrots, celery and garlic. Then I added about a tablespoon of tomato paste until it was well combined. I used 2 cups of lentils and about 6 cups of chicken stock. I added a few bay leaves and set the IP for manual 25 minutes with a quick release. I seasoned with salt, pepper and some red wine vinegar. I made the cotechino by boiling it on the stovetop in the foil pouch for 20 minutes. Then I sliced it and pan sauteed it until it formed some crispy edges. This was so good!! I will be making this again for sure.
My husband and I enjoyed this as a wonderful start to the new year! I modified the recipe by creating a soffritto with the carrot, onion (diced instead of chopped), garlic and 4 oz of diced pancetta. I browned the pancetta in a dutch oven, then added the onion, carrot, and garlic, allowing everything to brown and soften. Then I added the liquid (reduced to 5 cups; 2.5 cups of water and 2.5 cups of chicken broth) and seasoned with salt, pepper and the bay leaf, and finally the lentils. It came out well; my goal was to avoid bland lentils and this worked out very well. You can even use the broth from cooking the sausage (italian sausage works well too) to season the lentils.
This is the real deal as found in Italy.
This was surprisingly good – I would never have thought of this combination. I used hot italian sausage and cooked the lentils in half water and half broth and added garlic per the other reviews. The lentils were still a little plain and we had to add salt and pepper at the table. I may cook in all broth next time or season the water/broth.
1st time ever made this dish, my company for New Years eve loved this.This dish is fool-proof.
Great meal. I served it with some red swiss chard steamed for a second, then cooled, squeezed, chopped & sauteed with some EVOO, garlic, and a pinch of crushed red pepper. I also used broth with the lentils. I would love to know where to get fresh cotechino – all I can find in Chicago is the pre-cooked, and if I use that again, I’m going to take it out of the foil packet and simmer it in a little broth with some chopped carrots, celery and onion for a few minutes – it had a slightly “canned” flavor, not as bright as the cotechino I’ve had in restaurants. Still it’s a darned good meal – quitessential comfort food. We had leftovers steamed over a little broth and served with mashed potatoes and some rapini – my partner who’s not a lentil fan like this better.
We loved this. I made it on New Year’s Day; I didn’t plan ahead so couldn’t get a hold of Cotecchino. I used a fresh bratwurst (not as crazy as it sounds: many Northern Italian recipes have a Tyrolean influence) flavored with nutmeg. Oh, and I used half water, half chicken broth to cook the lentils. Served it with lacinato kale (black kale) sautéed with garlic, red pepper flakes, anchovy paste, a splash of chicken broth and a splash of wine. Delicious! Lucky coins and folding green money.
Myfamily loves the ingredients for this dish, but we found this too bland for our tastes. In fact, they asked me not to make it again.