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Lentil Stew

Prep Time 12 hours
Cook Time 30 minutes
Canning Time 1 hour
Total Time 13 hours 30 minutes
Servings 4 pint jars

Ingredients

  • 4 pint jars sanitized, with lids and rings
  • 2 cups dry french green lentils
  • 2 cups chicken broth
  • 1 kielbasa
  • 3 cloves garlic
  • 1 medium yellow onion
  • 4 celery stalks
  • 4 carrots
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 cups white wine room temperature
  • 2 cups boiling water

Instructions

Soak the lentils

  • Place the lentils in a large bowl
  • Add water to sufficiently cover the lentils, considering they will roughly double in size as they absorb water
  • After soaking for 12 hours, drain and rinse the lentils

Prepare the kielbasa and veggies

  • Finely chop the garlic
  • Dice the onion, celery, and carrots into small pieces
  • Slice the kielbasa into 1/4" slices, then each slice into similar size pieces as the vegetables

Cook the kielbasa and veggies

  • Put a large pot over medium/high heat and add the olive oil
  • Add in the kielbasa and cook until brown
  • Add the chopped veggies and stir to coat, adding a bit more olive oil as necessary
  • Cook the veggies until soft (usually carrots are last to soften)

Bringing it all together

  • Bring the burner up to high and pour the white wine over the veggie/sausage mix until it is covered
  • Deglaze the pan and scrape up any browned bits and let the wine reduce until it is syrupy
  • Once the wine is reduced, add in the lentils and stir to mix in and coat
  • Add in the chicken broth and bring to a boil
  • Reduce heat to simmer
  • Season with salt and pepper to taste

Canning the Lentil Stew

  • Add canning rack to the instant pot and fill with ~2 inches of water
  • Bring the 2 cups water to boil
  • Using a slotted spoon, distribute the lentil stew evenly among the pint jars, being careful not to fill more the jars more than 3/4ths to account for additional lentil expansion
  • Distribute the broth left behind from the previous evenly among the pint jars
  • Cover the lentil stew in each jar with the boiling water up to 1/2 inch headspace
  • Wipe the rims of the jars clean as necessary
  • Apply lids and screw the bands to finger tightness on the jars
  • Using the jar lifter, lower the jars in to the instant pot
  • Secure the lid of the instant pot and make sure the pressure valve is set
  • Program the instant pot to cook under high pressure for 1 hour, and make sure to disable the Keep Warm setting

Wrapping up the process

  • After the instant pot has finished cooking, be sure to let it come down to ambient pressure using the natural release cycle, do not try to do the quick release cycle as this can cause liquid to be forced out of the jars and potentially break the seals
  • Once the instant pot is safe to open, open it and use the jar lifter to pull the jars out and place on a towel too dry and cool down
  • If the rings on the jars are loose, they can be finger tightened again, carefully
  • Leave the jars to cool, you should hear the lids popping as the pressure creates a seal on the jars
  • After the jars have cooled, the rings can be removed and the jars are now shelf-stable and safe to store in a pantry to be eaten later
  • If any jar failed to seal, it is safe to either eat immediately or reprocess in the instant pot, though you may need to replace the lid since it did not seal properly

Notes

Kielbasa and canning safety:
No government agency has tested pressure canning cured meats for safety. There is a concern that such processing may not be sufficient to destroy the bacteria that can cause botulism poisoning.  Because the kielbasa in this recipe is chopped in to small pieces and cooked at high heat, I take the risk and can the lentils with cured pork kielbasa.  However, this is not recommended and if you do this you do so at your own risk.  The safest method remains using a non-cured sausage.