Lentils and Sausage and Friday Night

An impish, elderly Italian man fed me and my friends some delicious lentils and sausage on New Year's Eve, which inspired me to try and re-create it in my own kitchen. While his lentils soaked overnight, the adorable Italiano searched the southland high and low for the most authentico sausage, which he then prepared lovingly, to smashing results. Sadly, I have neither the time nor energy this week to put that much effort into feeding myself. And my search for authentic sausage is taking another form altogether (har, har.) So I headed to my local Trader Joe's where I knew they could help me out...and three pre-packaged products later, voila! A decent imitation of the traditional Italian new year's dish, lentils and sausage (don't tell Italy.)

Here's what it takes:

1 package steamed lentils (found in the refrigerated produce section near the bagged, pre-washed greens)
1 package Trader Joe's Spicy Italian Chicken sausage
1 bag pre-washed fingerling potatoes
2 cloves garlic
EVOO
chicken stock, if necessary

I sauteed the garlic in the olive oil, while heating the lentils in boiling water on the stove top, and then browned the sliced chicken sausage while cooking the potatoes in the microwave for about 5 minutes. I then added the warm lentils to the garlic-sausage pan, sliced the cooked potatoes and threw those in as well...and mangia! Italian new year's dinner in 15 minutes! While I am sure most of Italia would be dismayed, I thought it was a delicious and reasonable interpretation of the original dish. It was actually so good I did not season it at all (not even salt!)

(Note: if your lentils become too dry in the process of cooking them, add a little chicken stock to make them more viscous. The lentils we ate on NYE were creamy, which I just loved. No reason to suffer through eating dry lentils!)

Could this be simpler? I don't think so. And I've eaten it for 3 meals straight, and it's still delicioso!

So back to my search for the authentic sausage...aka, my Friday night date with the Harvard Writer. I'm teasing you all a little with this because...I'm hell bent on taking this slow (or at least slower than I usually do.) The Harvard Writer has made it clear that he's counting down the minutes to kissing me again, so...figuring out how exactly to put the brakes on is going to be an interesting challenge (should I be reading "Why Men Love Bitches"? I've been fighting that one for years, but this may be the moment.) My inherent problem is that I'm not a tease at all. I can be all feline and coy up to a certain point but past that...I resemble more a drooly, excitable puppy than a cool, reserved pussy (forgive me. God, I'm tired.) So, we'll see.

My new year's resolution, along with the multi-vitamins (I solved that one by buying gummy vitamins--what am I, 6 years old?) and the Four Man Plan, is to feel my way through 2010. Stop leading with the head so much, and start leading with the heart more. So here we go--Feeling My Way Through 2010. Starting here and now. How in the world am I going to put the brakes on this adorable guy who's hot to trot for me, if I'm supposed to be feeling my way through things?!? This is the paradox of it all...but if I want the sausage authentico, I know I'd better!