Lentils with Cotechino Sausage

Lentils and cotechino is the dish Italians eat on New Year’s Eve. The lentils symbolize coins and prosperity, and the rich, fatty cotechino sausage represents abundance. Tradition aside, it’s also just a deeply satisfying plate of food: earthy braised lentils spooned under slices of tender, spiced pork sausage.

Cotechino is a large Italian pork sausage that needs slow poaching to render its fat and become tender. Wrapping it in cheesecloth before cooking keeps it from falling apart, and piercing it with a fork lets the fat escape into the broth. That sausage broth is liquid gold. Three ladlefuls go directly into the lentils, flavoring them with rich, porky depth.

The lentils get their own treatment: cooked separately, then tossed with a sautéed soffritto of onion, celery, carrot, garlic, and fresh sage. A touch of diluted tomato juice ties everything together without turning this into a tomato-heavy dish. The sage is the herb that makes this unmistakably Italian.

Chef Tips

• Soak the cotechino for two hours before cooking. This softens the casing and helps it cook more evenly.
• Skim the fat from the sausage broth as it cooks. The broth should be flavorful but not greasy when you add it to the lentils.
• Don’t overcook the lentils. You want them tender but still holding their shape, not mushy. Check at 40 minutes.
• Chop the soffritto vegetables finely and evenly so they melt into the lentils rather than standing out as chunky pieces.

Variations

• If you can’t find cotechino, use a good-quality Italian pork sausage like luganega or even a mild kielbasa.
• Add a splash of red wine vinegar to the finished lentils for a bright, acidic contrast to the fatty sausage.
• Stir in a handful of chopped kale during the last few minutes of cooking the lentils for extra greens.