Ingredients
- 200g brown lentils
- 200g Ditaloni or similar pasta
- tomato puree
- handful of fresh parsley
- one carrot
- one stick celery
- one onion
- 500ml vegetable stock
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 sprig rosemary
- 1 sprig thyme
- a few chillies
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- parmesan & rind if you've got it
Prep
Separate parsley stalks from leaves and finely chop the stalks.
Finely chop carrot, celery and onion to make soffritto.
Instructions
Warm up olive oil with a squished clove of garlic and lightly pricked chillies, as well as the chopped parsley stalks. After a while, add soffritto and fry for five minutes before adding tomato puree. Give it another five minutes, then add rosemary, thyme and a parmesan rind, and top up with vegetable stock. Add the lentils, bring to a boil and then simmer for about twenty minutes—depending on what kind of pasta you're using. You'll want to aim for around half an hour for the lentils (and parmesan rind) to cook, so adding your pasta will be the last step. To the finished pasta, add some roughly chopped parsley leaves and grated parmesan.
Notes
I like to make a larger portion and put half of it away before putting in the pasta. This sauce can be used either for a lasagna or for stuffed zucchini/peppers. It freezes quite well (without the pasta).