Estofado de Lentejas Con Chorizo (Lentil and Sausage Stew)

Surfing the web I recently discovered a blog named "Las Hambres" (translates to "The Hungers") by Maria as soon as I saw this lentil stew in her blog I knew it was something I had to try, looked real comforting, simple and familiar. I grew up eating Spanish and Cuban bean stews and still do to this day so this diffidently hit home.

So anyways, yesterday I finally had the opportunity to cook this lentil stew, because there was nothing in the fridge I wanted to eat for lunch, so while the lentil stew cooked I multi-tasked, prepared some white rice, and made a salad I wrapped up everything in under 45 minutes and had a wonderful lunch & was able to also prepare a meat stew which I left simmering to be ready for dinner time so my family could eat it with the leftover white rice and salad I made for lunch (I'll blog about the meat stew sometime this month =)

So I'm blogging about it because well duh I wanna share the love with all of you and also because I prepared it somewhat differently, but it was inspired by her recipe and is very very similar. From now on when I want a simple Spaniard lentil stew with just chorizo this will be my go to way of preparing it :)

Ingredients to boil lentils with:
-2 cups (1 lbs.) dried lentils (rinsed and drained)
-water (enough to submerge lentils 2 inches in water)
-2 medium carrots, peeled cut into rounds
-1/2 onion left intact
-1/2 a small green or red bell pepper or 1/4 of a large one left intact uncut
-3 cloves garlic unpeeled and whole
-2 bay leaves
-1 teaspoon black peppercons
-2 Spanish Chorizos (I used "Chorizo de Bilbao)

Ingredients for the sofrito:
-1/4- 1/2 cup olive oil
-1/2 onion finely chopped/ minced
-3 cloves of garlic finely minced
-1 large ripe tomato grated
-1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
-1 tablespoon sweet smoked Spanish paprika
-salt to taste (I used about 2 teaspoons but it really is to taste)

Directions:
(1) Throw lentils in a pot, add carrot, onion, bell pepper, garlic, bay leaves, and black peppercorns and spanish chorizo. Bring to a boil on high heat and cover, lower heat to medium and cook until lentils are tender (about 35- 40 minutes)

(2) While lentils are simmering heat a large pan with a generous amount of olive oil on medium high heat to start your "sofrito", add the onion and cook until translucent and caramelized about 7- 10 minutes, add garlic and cook down until fragrant about 3 minutes, add grated tomato and cook until the tomato has no liquid left about an additional 10 minutes, finally add balsamic vinegar give it a good stir, and then the sweet smoked paprika stir for about 1 minute constantly so it doesn't burn and get's fragrant. Turn off and set aside.
and then the sweet smoked paprika stir for about 1 minute constantly so it doesn't burn and get's fragrant. Turn off and set aside.

(3) When lentils are tender add about 30- 35 minutes, add the sofrito mixture, stir, taste for salt and adjust it to taste and let it simmer an additional 5 minutes, turn off heat,
remove the chorizo's, take the casing off if necessary and slice it into 1/4- 1/2 inch rounds, stir it back into the stew.
(4) Serve on it's own with over white rice or in a deep bowl with bread. A salad would go nicely with it too.