Lentils, according to tradition, bring good luck, prosperity and money, and for this reason, they are consumed especially on the evening of December 31 as a good omen for the New Year. Let’s see how to use them in three particularly tasty recipes.

Cotechino with lentils

Ingredients

250 g medium lentils
1 precooked cotechino
300 ml of tomato puree
1 clove of garlic
1 teaspoon of sweet paprika
salt and pepper to taste
extra virgin olive oil to taste

Preparation

“In a saucepan, pour a generous swirl of oil, brown the peeled garlic and add the paprika as well.
Add the tomato puree, cook over moderate heat for a few minutes, and in the meantime, again for a few minutes, blanch the lentils.
Drain the lentils and add them to the dressing along with a glass of hot water.
Continue cooking, over low heat, for about 40 minutes, checking the consistency of the lentils from time to time and adding a ladleful of hot water if necessary. Adjust for salt.
Bring a pot of water to a boil, submerge the cotechino in it without removing it from the silver package, and cook it for 20 minutes from the time the boil resumes.
Drain it, remove it from the wrapper and cut it into slices a couple of cm thick. Add the slices to the now-cooked lentils, stir gently and cook for 5 minutes more. Serve immediately, garnishing the dish with a drizzle of oil, freshly ground pepper and fresh or dried marjoram.
(recipe source.co.uk)”

Lentil soup with potatoes

Ingredients

These are the ingredients for making lentil soup with potatoes:

250 g of already cooked lentils;
1 large (or two small) potatoes;
1 stalk of celery;
a few sprigs of parsley;
1 spring onion (or half a leek );
salt to taste;
extra-virgin olive oil to taste

Preparation

Wash and finely chop the celery, parsley (leave a few clumps aside) and spring onion and sauté them in a saucepan with a couple of tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil.
Add the potato that has been peeled, washed, dried and cut into small chunks.
Cook slightly over low heat and stirring.
After about two minutes, add the cooked lentils (with a ladleful of their cooking water). At this point cover with a lid and cook for about 15 minutes or however long it takes for the potatoes to cook and the cooking liquid to absorb, making the soup slightly creamy.
Finally, add a few sprigs of fresh parsley, stir, turn off the heat and serve your hot soup immediately.

Lentil stew

Ingredients

250 g lentils
30 g diced bacon
1 onion
1 celery stalk
1 carrot
1 sage leaf
400 g tomato pulp
extra virgin olive oil
salt
black pepper

Preparation

First, soak the dried lentils in cold water for a few hours. Discard the ones that have come to the surface, drain all the others and collect them in a saucepan. Cover them with cold water and boil them for 1 hour. Clean the vegetables and dice them very small. Heat three tablespoons of oil in a pan, season the sage leaf with bacon and add the diced vegetables. After 10 minutes, add chopped tomato pulp, or three fresh, red, ripe tomatoes, skinned, seeded and diced. Adjust salt and pepper; cook for 15 minutes.
Drain the boiled lentils, transfer them to the sauté pan, stir and let them season for at least 10 minutes.
Remove from the heat, transfer to a serving plate, and serve the stewed lentils immediately.
(source spoon.co.uk)