* Slow Cooker Spicy Sausages with Red Lentil Mash

I am very slowly falling in love with my slow cooker. 

It's taken it's sweet time, but is finally producing edible, tasty food that doesn't resemble something out of a Cow & Gate jar that you'd serve to a baby... or attempt to.

I hadn't really thought about the fact that I'd be able to use it on hot days, when I don't want to run the oven and fill the house with even more heat. I'm afraid I was thinking *inside the box* and honestly figured I'd have put it into the back of a cupboard somewhere by now (after experimenting), until the cold Autumn weather returned.

Not so.

It's absolutely perfect in the warm weather we've been experiencing the past week or so because I can finally get out into my garden and do all the jobs that are on a list somewhere that I have been ignoring with a vengeance... and whilst I'm beavering away pressure washing patio slabs and painting garden fences outside... the slow cooker is puttering gently away inside, cooking our dinner (I helped, of course).

This particular recipe is adapted from a book I bought a few weeks back - The Slow Cook Book by Heather Whinney... and so far so good. It's chock full of recipes that I want to try, so be warned - you may be inundated... especially as the weather is so bloody GAWJUS right now.

This doesn't even feel like real life at the moment. That glowing yellow ball in the sky is something that us Brits have not seen much of in the last two years and the entire country is going D.I.Y. crazy, including me! I've even given the BBQ a spray paint because it hasn't been used in two years and was looking slightly gnarly underneath it's cover.

I also managed to spray paint my ankles.

Black.

It'll be all the rage, next season... trust me.

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Slow Cooker Spicy Sausages with Red Lentil Mash Recipe

Serves 3 (4 if you're being tight)

Prep time (including precooking) - 25 minutes
Cooking time - LOW - 4-5 hours
Total time - 4.5 - 5.5 hours

You will need
Slow Cooker
Frying pan/skillet

Ingredients
1 tbsp olive oil
6 spicy sausages
1 onion - finely chopped
4oz/100g bacon lardons
1 tbsp paprika
2 garlic cloves - crushed
1 tbsp tomato puree/paste
pinch of dried chilli flakes
1 tbsp dried rosemary
2 sticks celery - finely chopped
2 red bell peppers - deseeded and finely chopped
7oz/200g red lentils - rinsed
15fl oz/450ml hot chicken stock
handful flat leaf parsley - chopped
handful coriander/cilantro - chopped

Method

• Heat the oil in the frying pan and brown the sausages on all sides for about 8 minutes. Remove from the pan and set aside.
• Add the onion and bacon and cook until the bacon begins to turn golden at the edges - about 3 - 4 minutes.
• Stir in the paprika, garlic, tomato puree/paste chilli flakes, rosemary, celery and peppers - cook gently for about 5 minutes until beginning to soften.
• Add the lentils and stock and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat and pour into the slow cooker.
• Add the sausages and put the lid on.
• Cook on LOW for 4 - 5 hours.
• Stir half of the chopped herbs through the lentil mash, and serve with the rest scattered across the top.

This is absolutely scrumptious with warm home made crusty bread to scoop the mash up with - unless you're on a diet... in which case use a spoon, it's less calories...

EAT