One of our stops in New York City was Eataly. It is a wonderful stop for a food fanatic like me – it houses multiple restaurants, a wine bar, and an Italian specialty market, with a butcher, fishmonger, and cheesemonger. I can entertain myself for hours, wandering around the market section, drooling over the steaks and seafood on display, fingering the kitchen tools, and…grabbing a bag of Umbrian lentils. (And anorange peppermill. I had to.)
Umbria is famous for its lentils; other than French Lentils du Puy, they are the only lentils I know sold by region, not color. (That is, all the lentils I can buy in Northeastern Ohio are either just “lentils” – brown lentils – or sometimes green and red lentils are available.)
I usually substitute brown lentils when I want to do an Italian style lentil dish, but now I am stocked up. It’s time for Umbian Lentil and Sausage stew – Salsicce e Lenticchie all’Umbriana – the traditional meal from the region.
Pressure Cooker Umbrian Lentils and Sausage [YouTube.com]
Recipe: Pressure Cooker Umbrian Lentils and Sausage
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Pressure Cooker Umbrian Lentils and Sausage
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 6–8 servings 1x
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Pressure Cooker Umbrian Lentils and Sausage recipe. Salsicce e Lenticchie, Umbrian sausage and lentil stew, in my Instant Pot pressure cooker.
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 pound sweet or hot Italian sausage, cut into 1/2 inch rings
- 500g (1 pound) Umbrian lentils (or brown lentils)
- 1 large onion, peeled and diced
- 1 large carrot, peeled and diced
- 1 celery stalk, diced
- 4 cloves crushed garlic
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning (or dried basil)
- 15-ounce can petite diced tomatoes with juices
- 6 cups water
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Rinse the lentils: Put the lentils in a strainer and rinse thoroughly with cold water. Let stand to drain while you prepare the rest of the recipe.
- Brown the sausage: Heat the olive oil in the pressure cooker over medium-high heat until the oil starts shimmering. (Use browning mode or sauté mode adjusted to high in an electric pressure cooker). Add the sausage and cook, stirring occasionally, until browned and crispy around on the edges, about 5 minutes. Move the sausage to a bowl with a slotted spoon, leaving as much fat behind as possible.
- Sauté the aromatics: Add the onion, carrot, celery, and garlic to the pressure cooker. Sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning. Sauté until the onion is softened, about 5 minutes, scraping any browned bits of sausage from the bottom of the pot into the onions.
- Pressure cook the lentils for 10 minutes with a natural pressure release: Add the lentils to the pot and stir into the aromatics, scraping the bottom of the pot again to loosen any browned onions. Stir in the browned sausage and any juices in the bowl. Stir in the can of tomatoes. Pour in the 6 cups of water and add 1 teaspoon of salt. Lock the lid and pressure cook on high pressure for 10 minutes in an electric PC or 8 minutes in a stovetop PC. Let the pressure come down naturally, about 20 minutes.
- Season and serve: Remove the lid from the pressure cooker. Taste the lentils for doneness and seasoning. If the lentils aren’t soft enough, simmer for another five minutes or so (don’t bring back to pressure – use simmer mode on the cooker or simmer on the stovetop). Add salt and pepper as necessary – when I use water or homemade chicken stock, I usually add another half teaspoon of sea salt. Serve.
Notes
- For a vegetarian version of this recipe, skip the sausage, and cook the onions a longer, to get a little browning around the edges.
Tools
- 6 quart or larger pressure cooker (I love my Instant Pot electric pressure cooker)
- Category: Weeknight Dinner
- Method: Pressure Cooker
- Cuisine: Italian
Keywords: Pressure Cooker Umbrian Lentils and Sausage, Instant Pot Umbrian Lentils and Sausage
What do you think?
Questions? Other ideas? Leave them in the comments section below.
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Does the 10-minutes of pressure cooking start when the pot reaches pressure, or from the time you put on the top?
When the pot reaches pressure.
I made this last night. Shockingly, everyone asked for more! I have 6, 8 and10 year olds, and that is rare. My husband said it’s his favorite Instant Pot recipe yet. I served it with a small dollop of sour cream. Thanks for a keeper. I love your blog.
★★★★★
You’re welcome!
Ok this is cool. the first recipe I click on of yours and you include what to do for an electric pressure cooker. Someone gave me one and I am just not a risotto or curry person. Though I will do curry now and then for my DH. So, now I can try out more recipes than the few in the book they included.
I have a ‘real’ pressure cooker, but only have used it as a large stewpot due to the worry of the wrong pressure and blowing up and all those things. Who knows, the gasket rubber might be perished by now for all I know!
Anyway, now to look further.
Sandy in the UK
This looks amazing – love lentils (and my IP!) Definitely going in my queue of things to make. Thank you!
Made this for a second time: rock-solid recipe, and leftovers freeze beautifully. I scaled it up about 50% just so I could stock the freezer, and everything behaved consistently. I did tweak things a bit by adding maybe a tablespoon each of vegetable and garlic soup bases and a small squeeze of tomato paste.
I have 8- and 3-qt IPs; if and when you update your recipes, I don’t think I’d be the only reader who’d appreciate notes on scaling quantities up or down. Thanks!
This is by far one of my favorite recipes! Thank you!