Ingredients

- 1 cothechino

- 300g of dry lentils

- 1 or 2 cans tomato sauce

- 150g of sweet pancetta (better if in cubes)

- 1 onion

- 2 stemes of celery

- 2 cups of broth (chicken or vegetable)

- oilve oil

- 3-4 bay leaves

- salt and pepper

The lentils need to stay in a bowl full of water for 6 to 12 hours (the longer the better). You can also change one or two times the water. This will make your lentils soft. Once they are ready drain them in a strainer.

Start to cook the cotechino. First you need to make some holes in the sausage so the fat will come out during the cooking. You can use a woodstick or a fork. Wrap the cotechino really tight in a kitchen towels or, as we used, in a net. (the net is a bit better cause you can see trhu it and you can check the cothechino without unwrapping it)

Place the cotechino in a pot with cold water and bring it slowly to simmer. Cook covered for 1 hour and half/2 hours at low heat (it just need to simmer, not to boil) checking it some times.. Add boiling water if the water is not covering it compleatly. Flip it a couple ot times.

Leave the pot a bit open and cook for another hour. Check with a woodstick, it should be soft inside.

While the cotechino is cooking you can make the lentils. Mince an onion and add it in a pan with 3 tbl spoons of olive oil. Mince the celery and add it too. Let them sweat until they loose the water.

Add the pancetta and stir for few min. Add the lentils.

Stir well. Add bay leaves,

salt and pepper to taste and 1 can of tomato sauce.

Stir well. Add 3 cups of chicken or vegetable broth.

Cover the pan, bring to boil and cook at medium-low fire for 30 minutes. Eventually you might need to add more broth or, if you like the taste more tomato sauce, if they gets too dry while cooking.

Once the cotechino is ready place it on a cutting board and peel it. Cut in in slices about 1cm thick.

In a oven pan place the lentils on the bottom and add on top the cotechino. You can keep it warm in the oven covered with alluminum foil. Serve warm.