Sausage Casserole ... and Breakfast

Weekly experiment with legumes, here, green lentils ...

Toulouse sausages, high meat content and little else in there ... as they should be. Combine with a few simple ingredients and a couple of store cupboard staples and you've got a great dinner!

Okay, so legumes are not primal but there is a spectrum here, a spectrum, folks. Not all legumes are made evil ... I mean equal. Some, down this end of the spectrum, like lentils are actually fine; red kidney beans down the other end, form a cross with your fingers, primal folks, they're still evil.

Anyway ...

Sausage Casserole

Skillet on, goose fat in, sausages browned off over a low heat and chucked into a lidded Pyrex dish.

In the remaining fat, soften a shredded onion and soak up the lovely fat with some shredded mushrooms. Pour over the sausages in the Pyrex.

Slice a red pepper and a green pepper. Add to the Pyrex.

Pour over a carton of chopped tomatoes.

Pour over a carton of green lentils.

Add three or four cloves of garlic, peeled and thinly sliced, sea salt and black pepper.

Stir together and commit to the oven at 170C (350F) for a good hour, then remove the lid and let it reduce for another 30 minutes, or so.

Serve out when it's how you like it.

... and leftovers?

Breakfast

What do you do with leftovers? Bulk out with something fresh, here some courgette and asparagus, and stick and egg on top. Instant breakfast.

Cod with Cavolo Nero & Puy Lentils

Lentils are something that I enjoy eating on occasion, Puy lentils a variety I regard as quite special.

Today, a variation on a classic Cod & Puy - you can read my thoughts on lentils in the link, but generally, I regard them as fairly inoffensive and perfectly good to eat every now and again ... if that's what you want to do.

Puy lentils, a Protected Designation of Origin green lentil variety from the Le Puy region of France owes its distinct character to the terroir within which it grows.

It's autumn, and so I'm bulking this meal out a little ...

Constituents

Fish - Cod, although any white fish will do, skin on and fried in butter

Cavolo Nero & Puy Lentils - Cavolo Nero, Puy lentils, sea salt, black pepper, sprinkle of chilli flakes and your favourite paleo fat, goose fat, here

Method

Steam your Cavolo Nero for a few minutes before transferring to a large skillet with your favourite paleo fat, toss in the drained lentils, add sea salt and black pepper along with a sprinkle of chilli flakes and warm through.

Warm some butter through in another skillet and fry the fish, skin side down for a few minutes. Loosen the fish by giving the skillet a gentle shake and flip over. Switch the heat off and let the other side cook through in the residual heat for a really tender piece of fish.

Serve out, kale and lentils down with the cod to crown.

Savoy Cabbage Pilaf

... a little puzzle.

I have a Savoy cabbage to eat and visiting family. Vegetarian visiting family, which on the face of it is simple: cook the cabbage, dinner done! While delicious, it's not especially nutritious and so, time for something fringe ancestral yet highly vegetarian.

I have a bag of "Broth Mix" which would appear to be a mix of spelt, lentils and peas. I also have regular white rice. With a few other ingredients, a well rounded dish with good macronutirent distribution can be made.

... and so I made up a sort of spelt, rice and lentil risotto, cabbage, avocado and tomato stirred in.

Start out with some good fat, coconut oil in my case, into which you soften a chopped onion and a few cloves of crushed garlic. Add the dry ingredients, add some bouillon, black pepper and water to cook through.

When the risotto is soft, stir through shredded cabbage and cook through for a few minutes.

Just prior to serving, stir through some chopped fresh parsley, cubed avocado and chopped tomato. Garnish with a good blob of soured cream and some paprika.

Haddock & Puy Lentils with Cream Mustard Sauce

From an ancestral perspective, lentils represent the least offensive of the pulses which we're told to avoid at all cost. In actual fact, they're a pretty good source of protein and all manner of micronutrients, their negative effects rendered out of the equation by soaking and boiling.

Good to go, then? Well, yes ... and no. I am far from advocating pulses, even benign pulses, as a regular thing but every now and again, they make a welcome change and make a great tasting dish. In fact, isn't that what being alive is all about? Eat, sleep and be well? Keep a perspective on it, eh?

With apologies done, let's see what this dish is about ...

It's haddock fillets, simply pan-fried and laid over a bed of puy lentils, mushroom, courgette and spinach, cream and mustard sauce over.

Fish - Haddock & Butter
Lentils - Puy Lentils, Onion, Garlic, Parsley, Mushroom, Courgette, Tomato Puree, Worcestershire Sauce & Goose Fat, Parsley & Spinach
Sauce - Cream & Wholegrain Mustard

Puy Lentils

Puy lentils, a Protected Designation of Origin green lentil variety from the Le Puy region of France owes its distinct character to the terroir within which it grows.

Take a skillet and melt some of your favourite paleo fat, sauté off some chopped onion, drop in a few  mushrooms to soak up any remaining fat, add courgette, garlic, tomato puree, Worcestershire Sauce, sea salt and black pepper. Chopped parsley, too.

As a benchmark, 400g of lentils will feed two, one onion is needed.

Set aside on a low heat to reduce and concentrate the flavours, stirring in a generous handful of spinach as you start the fish.

Haddock

Pan fry the fillets in butter.

Sauce

Warm through some double cream and stir in a helping of wholegrain mustard.

How much? Your choice! Go by taste. Reduce gently, adding literally drops of water if the sauce becomes too thick.

Serve

Make a bed of lentils, fish over, sauce on top and garnish with something, or other. I had chives to hand which worked very nicely.

Sausage & Lentil Casserole

Caution! Lentils Ahead!

You know what? I don't at all mind lentils. I know they're not paleo, not even by a long stretch of imagination even for the most lenient of paleo revisionists, but who cares?

What they are is a good pack of protein, good micros and, as our man at Free the Animal will tell us, a useful source of resistant starch. The bad? Anti-nutrients! Which are largely neutered by the soaking and cooking process.

Not ideal, but certainly not all bad ... and if you like them, a perfectly good deviation for a quick meal.

Casserole: French for "saucepan", a deep dish which is both committed to the oven and presented at the table for serving.

I went with the following:

• Turkey Sausages & Smoked Bacon
• Onion, Garlic & Chilli
• Potato
• Mushrooms
• Green Lentils (Canned)
• Tomato Purée
• Dried Marjoram, Black Pepper & Sea Salt
• Fresh Parsley

Take a large oven-proof pan and melt some of your favourite paleo fat (yes, goose fat, for me) and fry off your sausages. I went with turkey sausages.

Toss in some shredded smoked bacon, chopped onion, garlic and chilli. Fry off until softened.

Add in cubed potatoes and fry on to start to cook through.

In with the mushrooms, sliced, quartered or chopped, to mop up the surplus fat.

Tip in the can of lentils, water and all.

Finally, a good squirt of tomato purée, dried marjoram, black pepper and sea salt.

Settle into the oven for about half an hour to cook through and reduce, and you're done.

Remove from the oven, stirring in some fresh parsley and serve at the table with something green - tenderstem broccoli, here, Savoy Cabbage would do equally well.

Cod & Puy Lentils [Variation]

Lentils are something that I enjoy eating on occasion, Puy lentils a variety I regard as quite special.

Today, a variation on a classic Cod & Puy - you can read my thoughts on lentils in the link, but generally, I regard them as fairly inoffensive and perfectly good to eat every now and again ... if that's what you want to do.

Puy lentils, a Protected Designation of Origin green lentil variety from the Le Puy region of France owes its distinct character to the terroir within which it grows.

It's autumn, and so I'm bulking this meal out a little ...

We'll have roasted cod over a sort of hash of leek, potato, carrot, puy lentil and spinach, with a green peppercorn sauce.

Constituents

Fish - Cod, athough any white fish will do, along with your favourite paleo fat, goose fat for me

Lentils - Puy lentils, leek, garlic, potato, carrot, spinach, black pepper, turmeric, ground coriander, chilli, fish sauce and your favourite paleo fat, goose fat, here

Sauce - Cream, fish sauce, spring onions and green peppercorns

Lentils

Let's get the lentils going ...

In a heavy based skillet, melt some fat and start to soften some shredded leek with the spices - I wanted a spicier version, although not necessarily a curry, so used ground coriander, tumeric and black pepper.

In with some potatoes and carrots, or any roots you fancy; doesn't have to be what I used. Swish in the fat to colour up with the turmeric.

Pour in drained can of Puy Lentils, topping up with hot water, squirt of tomato purée, chopped garlic and a little fish sauce for the saltiness.

Let that simmer on for about half an hour, over which time the liquid will reduce and the flavours consolidate. Optionally, add a splash of Worcestershire Sauce to boost the umami - I didn't, I like the flavour as is and consider the little tomato purée to do that admirably.

Just prior to serving, stir some spinach through along with a shredded chilli.

Sauce

In a saucepan, pour in double cream, a chopped spring onion, splash of fish sauce for the saltiness and some green peppercorns.

Allow that to very gently simmer on the lowest heat you have, adding a teaspoon of water periodically, if the sauce becomes too reduced. We want the flavours to melt, the sauce to darked ever so slightly and reduce just a touch.

Fish

Simply pat dry and lay on an ovenproof plate over your favourite paleo fat.

It'll take maybe 20 minutes at 180C, sufficient just to colour up without drying out.

I'm guessing that the above prep took about 10 minutes, so we're good to put the fish in now ... if the lentils have to go over the half hour, so be it.

Serve

Spoon the lentils out onto a plate as the base, fish on top and spoon the peppercorn sauce over.

What a buzz! The pepperiness really boosts the dish and works so well with the cod.

Cream sauces tend to work better with smoked white fish, something I'll probably do next time, but it'll be a year or so until that happens, so don't hold your breath ...

n=1

No adverse side effects noticed, not immediately afterwards, an hour after, overnight or the following day. Properly prepared, lentils can be perfectly nutritious ... every now and again.

Peruvian Fried Fish

In my desperation to stretch out sea bass over seven days, particularly to our Friday night spicy meal, I turned to our South American friends and a dish called Tacu Tacu ...

... or so, I thought.

Tacu Tacu is some kind of Peruvian dish, that's for sure, but when I googled (love google) the matter, I found fried fish with spicy lentils and some rice. I later found that Tacu Tacu is something quite different, so the title remains as it does, not Tacu Tacu.

Anyway ...

It's Friday! We survived! We won! We got through another week, we worked it, we did our thing and we did it well; but now, it's the start of a beautiful weekend, cold, bright, sunny and full of all the things we hope will bring us joy, recovery, recouperation and drum up the strength to get out there and do it again for another week.

But no, Friday is about kicking back and saying, "Fuck, yeah! I did okay this week." ...

We need fun, flavour, spice and some booze, so ... let's get on with it, eh?

First, lentils ... second, rice ... neither are paleo, so if you're one of those paleos who cannot abide the notion of folks eating outside of the box just look away and carry on ... LOOK! A MAMMOTH! GO! No, serious! GO! There's a mammoth! Go get it!

Phew! We've ditched our purist friends who can go about keeping the straight and narrow, erm, straight and narrow ... let's have some fun! It's Friday ... Fry ... Day.

First, lentils ...

Lentils are part of the Fabaceae or Leguminosae family: legumes, and as such have no place in the paleo diet, yet are tentatively acceptable as part of what I would call a paleo+ diet.

Legumes as a family represent a wide spectrum. When considering food sources, one does need to look at the whole, the big picture - red kidney beans represent the most toxic end of the spectrum, while lentils represent the least toxic. Beyond paleo, Archevore author Kurt Harris makes no mention of legumes, in fact, considers them a useful food source although not ideal.

Legumes MUST be prepared by soaking and then pressure cooking. Canned legumes will have already been soaked and then pressure cooked, or super-heated with steam.

Second, rice ...

Rice, especially white rice, is a simple starch. Eat it, eat it every now and again and don't worry.

Arsenic? Yeah, maybe ...

Okay, so we're ready to roll, right?

First, cook them lentils - lentils, can of, green, onions, garlic, tomato puree, chillies, more chillies, something else hot, more chillies, Worcestershire Sauce and more chillies - we want this hot!

Rice, boil it, drain it, stir in some parsley.

Ready to eat?

You've gutted, cleaned, scaled and filleted your fish, so drop the fillets in a skillet with some butter.

Plate up - lentils on one side, rice on't t'other, fish in the middle.

Eat!

Drink? Tequila! Tequila ... lots of and enjoy it.

Tequila! It makes me happy ...

Yeah, there's an egg on there ... fry an egg! What? You want a support group?

Of course, this, like always is inspiration ... do your fish the way you want to, spicy, coz it's Friday, accompanied with whatever you like.

Just have some fun. Life is hard enough without complicating it with strict diets.

Sardines with Puy Lentils

Puy lentils, a Protected Designation of Origin green lentil variety from the Le Puy region of France owes its distinct character to the terroir within which it grows.

Lentils are part of the Fabaceae or Leguminosae family: legumes, and as such have no place in the paleo diet, yet are tentatively acceptable as part of what I would call a paleo+ diet.

Legumes as a family represent a wide spectrum. When considering food sources, one does need to look at the whole, the big picture - red kidney beans represent the most toxic end of the spectrum, while lentils represent the least toxic. Beyond paleo, Archevore author Kurt Harris makes no mention of legumes, in fact, considers them a useful food source although not ideal.

Legumes MUST be prepared by soaking and then pressure cooking. Canned legumes will have already been soaked and then pressure cooked, or super-heated with steam.

While meat, fish and eggs are on the table, why eat off the plate? Well, lentils could be considered an interested texture or flavour boosting protein calories (include the essential amino acids isoleucine and lysine), as well as acting as a ready source of dietary fibre, folate, Vitamin B1 and a number of trace minerals, notably iron.

Puy lentils lend a unique flavour and pleasant texture to all manner of meals, white fish particularly.

Begin by melting some butter in a skillet and softening a chopped onion or shredded leek. Toss in a clove or two of minced garlic.

Pour in a can of Puy lentils.

Enhance the umami flavours with a touch of tomato purée and a good splash of Worcestershire Sauce. Add a little water and let the lentils simmer.

Meanwhile warm through some fish - canned fish is perfectly good, and a can of sardines or pilchards absolutely perfect!

Shred and steam some greens - savoy cabbage, kale, cavolo nero or even callaloo are all perfect! I used cavolo nero, an Italian black kale.

Serve the shredded greens around the side and accompany with some green olives, laying the fish over the top.

Excellent as leftovers to warm through for lunch the following day.

Cayenne Dusted Cod with Puy Lentils

Puy lentils, a Protected Designation of Origin green lentil variety from the Le Puy region of France owes its distinct character to the terroir within which it grows.

Lentils are part of the Fabaceae or Leguminosae family: legumes, and as such have no place in the paleo diet, yet are tentatively acceptable as part of what I would call a paleo+ diet.

Legumes as a family represent a wide spectrum. When considering food sources, one does need to look at the whole, the big picture - red kidney beans represent the most toxic end of the spectrum, while lentils represent the least toxic. Beyond paleo, Archevore author Kurt Harris makes no mention of legumes, in fact, considers them a useful food source although not ideal.

Legumes MUST be prepared by soaking and then pressure cooking. Canned legumes will have already been soaked and then pressure cooked, or super-heated with steam.

While meat, fish and eggs are on the table, why eat off the plate? Well, lentils could be considered an interested texture or flavour boosting protein calories ( include the essential amino acids isoleucine and lysine), as well as acting as a ready source of dietary fibre, folate, Vitamin B1 and a number of trace minerals, notably iron.

Puy lentils lend a unique flavour and pleasant texture to all manner of meals, white fish particularly.

Begin by melting some butter in a skillet and softening a chopped onion or shredded leek. Toss in a clove or two of minced garlic.

Pour in a can of Puy lentils.

Enhance the umami flavours with a touch of tomato purée and a good splash of Worcestershire Sauce. Add a little water and let the lentils simmer.

Meanwhile, prepare the fish.

Pre-heat your oven to 200C. Place a portion of firm white fish onto an oven-proof tray, lightly greased. Dust the fish with cayenne pepper and place in the oven while you finish off the vegetables.

Shred some cabbage and soften it in boiling water. Drain off.

In another skillet, fry off some shredded bacon and then toss in the shredded cabbage. Toss the two ingredients together. Bacon works so well with white fish, with lentils and with cabbage.

After 20 minute, or so, the fish should be cooked.

Reduce the liquid in the lentil skillet, re-heat the bacon and cabbage skillet and then serve out onto a plate, lentils on one side, bacon and cabbage the other with the fish placed over the top. Dig in!

Another idea would be to simply steam the fish and accompany with a few peeled and boiled new potatoes.

Lasagne

Lasagne - classic comfort food and an excellent way to use up pretty much anything.

Here, I made up a filling from softened onions, garlic, mushrooms, cubes of carrot, some peeled plum tomatoes, green lentils, thyme and salt & pepper.

Lentils are part of the Fabaceae or Leguminosae family: legumes, and as such have no place in the paleo diet, yet are tentatively acceptable as part of what I would call a paleo+ diet.

Legumes as a family represent a wide spectrum. When considering food sources, one does need to look at the whole, the big picture - red kidney beans represent the most toxic end of the spectrum, while lentils represent the least toxic. Beyond paleo Archevore author Kurt Harris makes no mention of legumes, in fact, considers them a useful food source although not ideal.

Legumes MUST be prepared by soaking and then pressure cooking. Canned legumes will have already been soaked and then pressure cooked, or super-heated with steam.

With the filling made, we now need to make up a bechamel sauce.

Bechamel is the simple combination of butter, flour and milk and heightened with a touch of nutmeg.

Melt some butter in a pan - a centimetre slice off the end of a block of butter will do just fine.

Sprinkle some flour into the butter and whisk. Still sloppy? Add more flour. Once the flour balls up and looks as if you should discard it and try again, pour in a little milk and whisk ... a little more milk, still whisking and a little more, until the sauce has come around to a thick sloppy sauce. About half to two thirds of a pint of milk is required. Spice with a little nutmeg.

Spread some bechamel sauce into the base of an ovenproof dish and make a layer of filling.

Top with thin slices of marrow.

Repeat, creating a second layer.

Crown the dish with a final layer of bechamel sauce and sprinkle on some grated cheese.

Commit the dish to a pre-heated oven set to 180C for about 20 minutes to cook through, soften the marrow and melt the cheese.

Instead of marrow, sorghum flatbread might well be a reasonable replacement for pasta sheets.

Alternatively, sourcing gluten-free pasta sheets might be okay, but I do have an inkling that the processes involved in creating gluten-free pasta places the food outside of a source I would be happy eating. Sheets made simply from rice flour could well be acceptable.

Anyway, serve out onto a plate. Accompany with some Chips and a ramekin of butter softened spinach with a good kick of white pepper.

Cod with Puy Lentils

Puy lentils, a Protected Designation of Origin green lentil variety from the Le Puy region of France owes its distinct character to the terroir within which it grows.

Lentils are part of the Fabaceae or Leguminosae family: legumes, and as such have no place in the paleo diet, yet are tentatively acceptable as part of what I would call a paleo+ diet.

Legumes as a family represent a wide spectrum. When considering food sources, one does need to look at the whole, the big picture - red kidney beans represent the most toxic end of the spectrum, while lentils represent the least toxic. Beyond paleo Archevore author Kurt Harris makes no mention of legumes, in fact, considers them a useful food source although not ideal.

Legumes MUST be prepared by soaking and then pressure cooking. Canned legumes will have already been soaked and then pressure cooked, or super-heated with steam.

While meat, fish and eggs are on the table, why eat off the plate? Well, lentils could be considered an interested texture or flavour boosting protein calories (include the essential amino acids isoleucine and lysine), as well as acting as a ready source of dietary fibre, folate, Vitamin B1 and a number of trace minerals, notably iron.

Puy lentils lend a unique flavour and pleasant texture to all manner of meals, white fish particularly.

Begin by melting some butter in a skillet and softening a chopped onion or shredded leek. Toss in a clove or two of minced garlic.

Pour in a can of Puy lentils.

Enhance the umami flavours with a touch of tomato purée and a good splash of Worcestershire Sauce. Add a little water and let the lentils simmer.

Meanwhile, prepare the fish and potatoes.

Peel some new potatoes and get them boiling in a pan of water.

Line a steamer pan with tin foil and place the fish portions in there. The foil will protect the fish from the fierce steam as well as enabling the fish to be removed to a flat board for easy transference to the plate.

About 6 minutes before the potatoes are expected to be ready, salt the fish, place the lid on the steamer pan and place over the boiling potatoes.

When ready, reduce the liquid in the lentil skillet, remove the fish steamer pan, drain off the potatoes and add in a good knob of butter to coat the potatoes.

Plate up - lentils in the middle, fish placed gently over and surrounded by buttered boiled potatoes. Sprinkle chopped parsley over.