Cotechino in Puff Pastry with Lentils

Name: Cotechino in Puff Pastry with Lentils
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 160 min
Total time: 180 min
Yield: 4
Ingredients: Cotechino 1.5 lbs; Spinach 10 cups; Puff pastry 1 rectangular roll 8.1 oz; Dried lentils 1 ½ cup; Celery 1 rib; Carrots medium 1; Yellow onions ½; Bay leaves 1 leaf; Extra virgin olive oil to taste; Fine salt to taste; Black pepper to taste; Vegetable broth approximately 8 ½ cups; Eggs 1; Maldon salt to taste

Difficulty: Easy
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 2 h 40 min
Serving: 4 persone
Cost: Average

PRESENTATION

Recipe by
Sebastian Fitarau

New Year's Eve means cotechino with lentils! There's no better dish to enjoy at the stroke of midnight, and today we're showing you how to cook it in an exceptionally delicious way. Let's prepare together the cotechino in puff pastry with lentils, a classic yet truly original version inspired by the classic Beef Wellington! Instead of the filet, we use cotechino; we used fresh cotechino and cooked it in boiling water before wrapping it in puff pastry. Instead of the typical mushroom cream, we added a touch of creaminess with a finely chopped spinach mix, making this dish super tasty! The stewed lentils are a must as a side dish, a good luck wish for the year to come!

Here are more recipes with cotechino:

INGREDIENTS

for the cotechino: Cotechino 1.5 lbs (700 g); Spinach 10 cups (300 g); Puff pastry 8.1 oz (230 g) - 1 rectangular roll

for the lentils: Dried lentils 1 ½ cup (300 g); Celery 1 rib; Carrots 1 - medium; Yellow onions ½; Bay leaves 1 leaf; Extra virgin olive oil to taste; Fine salt to taste; Black pepper to taste; Vegetable broth 8 ½ cups (1.5 l) - approximately

for brushing: Eggs 1; Maldon salt to taste

Preparation

How to prepare Cotechino in Puff Pastry with Lentils

To prepare the cotechino in puff pastry with lentils, first make the vegetable broth. Take an uncooked cotechino, prick it with a toothpick, and roll it in a sheet of parchment paper 1. Then use kitchen twine to tie it 2, as if it were a roast 3. If you've never done this, find out here how to tie a roast.

Immerse it in a large pot, cover with cold water 4, and let it cook for 2 hours from boiling. In the meantime, prepare the lentils. In another pot, pour a little olive oil, the chopped onion 5, and the chopped carrot 6.

Also add the finely chopped celery 7 and gently sauté everything 8. Then add the lentils 8, salt, freshly ground black pepper, and the 2 bay leaves 9.

Cover with the vegetable broth 10 and cook everything for an hour and a half over low heat, adding more hot broth if necessary, stirring occasionally. Meanwhile, also prepare the spinach. Immerse them in hot salted water 11 for a few minutes, until wilted 12.

Drain them and transfer them to ice water 13. Then squeeze them very well 14 and transfer them to a cutting board. You will need to chop them very finely, until you achieve a creamy consistency 15.

As soon as the cotechino is ready, drain it, remove the casing, and let it cool. Roll out the puff pastry on a surface and spread the spinach cream over it, covering almost the entire surface 16. Place the cotechino on one side of the pastry and start rolling it 17; make sure the seam ends up on the bottom 18.

Press down on the sides to seal it well 19. Transfer to a baking sheet with parchment paper, brush with egg 20, and sprinkle with Maldon salt 21.

Bake the cotechino in a preheated fan oven at 356°F for 30/35 minutes. Once golden, remove from the oven 22 and let it rest for a few minutes. Then slice it 23 and serve it with the lentils 24.

Storage

We recommend consuming the cotechino in puff pastry within a few hours, otherwise the pastry might soften.

If you prefer, you can cook the cotechino a day in advance.

Cooked lentils keep for 2-3 days.

Tip

Use a tea towel to squeeze the spinach better.

Instead of spinach, you can use other seasonal leafy greens.

Instead of puff pastry, you can use shortcrust pastry!

For the translation of some texts, artificial intelligence tools may have been used.