The
French were eating lentils long before the 
veggie/organic/fairtrade
crowd got round to vaunting their virtues. Isabelle, who lives
in the rolling country just north-east of Toulouse, between the
Garonne and
Tarn valleys, uses locally-produced confit d'oie to
spice up the traditional lentilles au petit salé.
Ingredients
(for 4 to 6 people):
500g
of green lentils.
The best are from Le Puy.
confit
d'oie. A couple of cuisses (legs) or 4 manchons
(wings)
Saucisse
de Toulouse. You will need about 200 g... or for a
stronger taste - a piece of andouille:
a mild tripe sausage (chitterlings sausage).
fresh
pork belly. Again about 200g will do.
vegetables -
3 large carrots, two onions, a leek, 2 or 3 sticks of celery with
leaves.
2
bay leaves, sprig of thyme.
Method
Chop
the onions, carrots and leek and fry gently in a couple of tablespoons
of
goose
fat (taken
from
your
confit)
in a heavy bottomed cast-iron pot (or earthenware pot like Isabelle's)
on a low flame. Add the Toulouse sausage in 6 inch pieces. Add
the
belly
of pork
diced.
Stir around
a bit
to get some colour on the meat before adding the pieces of confit
and the sticks of celery roughly chopped. Give it all another
five minutes on the flame before adding the 
lentils, another
dollop
of goose fat
and a couple of cloves of garlic roughly crushed with the flat
blade of a knife. Mix the ingredients around a bit but add neither
salt
nor
pepper
at this stage.
Add
about a litre and a quarter of water and a quarter litre of dry
white wine. bring to boil slowly and simmer very gently for about
an hour.
Check
and stir every now and again: the finished dish should be fairly
liquid so don't hesitate to add more water or white wine if it
sticks or thickens too much. Add salt and pepper at the ned of
the cooking period.
Like
most lentil dishes this one is even better re-heated the next day.
Accompany
with a Gaillac Red or Côtes du Frontonnais.