Italian lentil and sausage slow cooker stew
4
Points® value
Total Time
7 hr 25 min
Prep
20 min
Cook
7 hr 5 min
Serves
4
Difficulty
Easy
The slow cooker works its magic on this soup, which takes just 20 minutes to pull together. We tame broccoli rabe's sophisticated, slightly bitter flavour with a long cooking time. For an even milder flavour, substitute regular broccoli for half the broccoli rabe and consider using a mild Italian sausage instead of a spicy one. For the lentils, they don’t require soaking like dried beans do, but you do need a good rinse. And you should pick through them to remove any shriveled lentils, debris, or rocks. As for which lentils to choose, green or brown lentils hold their shape well when cooked. Red, orange, or yellow lentils are tasty but they do tend to get mushy when cooked, which works well in sauces, soups, and stews.
Ingredients
Olive oil
2 tsp(s)
Garlic
1 clove(s), large, minced
Onion
1 small, chopped
Dried shiitake mushrooms
1 cup(s), caps, sliced
Dry lentils
1 cup(s), washed and picked over
Bay leaf
2 tsp(s)
Uncooked broccoli rabe
3 cup(s), roughly chopped
Cooked chicken sausage
12 oz, spicy, sliced into 1/2 inch-thick pieces
Fat free chicken broth
3 cup(s)
Table salt
½ tsp(s)
Black pepper
¼ tsp(s)