Sausage and lentil casserole

For the first proper meal in the new flat, my girlfriend suggested trying something she didn't think she liked – lentils. I love 'em, and they're a healthy, cheap ingredient.

If you're using dried ones, don't forget to soak them overnight. I find the packet instructions to be a bit over-generous, so I use 50g dry weight per person rather than 75g - and it still turned out to be too much, today.

When you're ready to cook, drain and rinse the lentils and boil them at a good, rolling boil according to the packet instructions – mine were 12-14 minutes. They're going to get a bit more time in the cooking process, so maybe undercook them a bit at this point.

Now, chop an onion and a clove of garlic, and start them sweating in oil over a low heat.

While that's going on, peel your sausages (I suggest 2 per person) and make them into little meatballs. Just split the skin with a knife, peel it back, separate the meat into little pieces and roll them into balls in the palms of your hands.

Add the meatballs to the pan and move them around so that they get a little browned on all sides. You may need to turn the heat up a bit to achieve this.

Once they're a bit browned, add the lentils, 100ml water, a tin of tomatoes, salt and pepper, and whatever herbs and spices you're using – today I've gone for sage. Bring the mixture briefly to the boil, then back the heat off and let it simmer for 10 minutes.

I normally like to do this dish with a Mediterranean flavour by using a mixture of a plain sausage and Spanish cooking chorizo and adding chilli flakes and cumin, or a fresh chilli pepper. However, the butcher only had pork, leek and apple sausages today and I thought they'd be a bit weird with spices so I stuck to a traditional sausagey sort of herb. How about experimenting with it in different ways – Toulouse sausage, and use wine instead of water, perhaps? The possibilities are endless.

Is casserole the right word for this?  I'm sure we can come up with something trendier, especially if we go for a Mediterranean version.

The verdict? My girlfriend likes lentils now. I think I prefer the spicy version, but this was lovely – and the quantities ended up making enough for three portions, rather than the two we had planned.