Baked Eggs with Lentils and Merguez

Eggs for dinner? Suuurrre why not. I started making this in the morning, intending it for brunch. But it took until 7:30pm for me to complete it. Such is the life with a small human in the house.

NOTE: All measurements are approximate…taste your cooking as you go. Eyeball it. You don’t need to measure. 😀 Plus, aint nobody got time to wash measuring cups and sh*%.

INGREDIENTS:

• 2-3 links of spicy merguez (lamb sausage)
• ~1 cup red lentils, washed and drained (sift for stones!)
• 1 medium sweet potato, chopped*
• 1/3 cup red or orange bell peppers diced
• 1 small onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, sliced
• 2 tbs tomato paste
• ~1/4 cup tomato sauce
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp dried parsley
• 1 tsp sweet paprika
• pinch of sugar (to cut acidity of tomato paste)
• ~1 cup chicken stock
• Eggs

*I sliced on the diagonal, so it cooks faster. Red lentils tend to cook quickly. You don’t want crunchy sweet potatoes. This technique, I believe, is called “rolling wedges”. This is how I cut carrots, zucchinis, etc. Very useful.

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Remove sausage from casing. Heat dutch oven on medium high until smoking hot. Add a tbs or two of oil (I always use avocado for its high smoke point and lack of flavor). When oil is shimmering, add sausage and break it up with the edge of your spatula. Remove and set aside once cooked through.
2. In remaining oil from sausage, add onions, bell peppers, garlic. Salt generously. (Depending on saltiness of the chicken stock and tomato sauce you’re using, you may want to salt lightly.)  Add seasonings. Continue to saute ~5m or until onions are soft and translucent.
3. Add sweet potatoes. Continue to saute ~3m or so. Longer if you accidentally cut your potatoes too thick.
4. Mix in tomato paste, tomato sauce, and chicken stock.
5. Once tomato paste has dissolved, add lentils. Stir. Lentils should not be completely submerged. Add water/stock until it looks like ::this:: or a little drier.
6. Bring to a slow boil. Turn heat to simmer, mix in sausage, and cover. Simmer for 20m or so until lentils are just soft. (I prefer al dente over soggy)
7. Grease an 8” cast iron skillet (or if you have a deeper skillet you can use from beginning to end, no transfer is necessary) and spoon in lentil mixture. Using the back of a spoon, press down and create divots for the eggs. Crack an egg in each. Broil in the oven for 5m or so until eggs firm up to your liking.

Tada! That’s it. Pretty easy to make, I just couldn’t get away long enough to chop veggies and tend to the stove until I put the little one to bed.

PS: I love my wooden spoon. Got it in Halifax this summer on our family trip. My dream (or one of many) is to start a wooden utensils collection. Does that make me weird?

Something so grounded and OG about using a wooden spoon.

And cast iron skillets.

And baked eggs.

We ❤️ Ube!

  
The offspring’s first taste of ube. I think he likes it.