Easy Bollito Misto with Salsa Verde

A delicious and inexpensive Gordon Ramsay recipe which is enhanced by a dollop of salsa verde, this is a light Northern Italian stew with lentils, chorizo, fennel sausage and vegetables.

Ingredients

• Olive oil, for frying

• 6 Italian fennel sausages

• 220g cooking chorizo sausages, halved lengthways

• 3 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced

• 2 celery sticks, trimmed and thickly sliced diagonally

• 2 carrots, peeled and sliced diagonally

• 200g Puy lentils

• 1 bay leaf

• 2 thyme sprigs

• 750ml chicken stock

• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

• Chopped flat leaf parsley, to garnish

Method

1. Heat a large saucepan over a medium heat and add a little oil.

2. Fry the fennel sausages for 3–4 minutes until coloured on all sides. Remove and set aside.

3. Add the chorizo pieces, cut side down, and fry for 2–3 minutes until they start to release their coloured oil and begin to crisp up. Turn over and colour on the other side for a minute or two. Remove and set aside with the sausages.

4. Add the garlic, celery and carrots to the pan and stir for 2 minutes until the garlic is tender. Stir in the lentils, then return the sausages and chorizo to the pan with the bay leaf and thyme springs. Stir well.

5. Add 600ml of the stock, then taste and season with salt and pepper. Bring to the boil, then lower the heat and simmer gently for 25–30 minutes until the sausages are cooked through, the lentils tender and the stock well flavoured. If the stock levels drop too low while the lentils are cooking, top up with a little of the remaining stock.

6. Discard the bay leaf and thyme sprigs and serve the bollito misto in shallow bowls, garnished with the chopped parsley. Italians always serve bollito misto with salsa verde.

Salsa verde ingredients

Salsa verde is delicious served with fish (or meat) so you can keep it in the fridge and use it again and again.

• 1 garlic clove

• 4 anchovy fillets

• 1 shallot , finely chopped

• 1 lemon , zested and juiced

• 2 tbsp capers , rinsed and drained, chopped if large

• a bunch parsley

• a bunch basil

• olive oil

Method

1. Crush the garlic in a pestle and mortar, add the anchovy and crush again to a rough paste, then add the shallot and lemon zest and give it a good mix to release the flavours.

2. Stir in the capers and herbs and lemon juice, bruising the herbs a little.

3. Season and add enough olive oil to get the consistency you want.