Pasta makes you happy

May 2nd, 2018 | main dishes

Spaghetti Bolognese – that’s where it starts. Only in Germany this spicy tomato-vegetable sauce with minced meat is called like this. The Italian calls it “Ragú” and there are thousands and a recipe variant. In search of meatless recipes, we simply replaced the minced meat with lentils. And lo and behold? No Bolognese, no Ragú – but delicious!

This recipe can be wonderfully cooked in stock. Freeze it and you always have a quick meal at hand. Also for parties or children’s birthday parties it is excellent – just because you can freeze the leftovers. Our kids love it, back in the days when they were very little, just like today, when they are on the go to becoming adult.

Pasta makes you happy – even with lentils.

Spaghetti with lentil bolognese

(4 portions)

250 g carrots

1 small leek

2 stick of celery

1 zucchini

2 cloves of garlic

finely cube the vegetables

3 TS olive oil

sauté the vegetable for about 5 minutes

Salt, pepper from the mill

1 ts (vanilla) sugar

3 TS tomato paste

add and sauté briefly

150 ml of dry red wine

deglaze

400 g tomatoes in cubes (canned)

600 ml vegetable broth

200 g of Puy lentils

2 bay leaves

add, bring to a boil and simmer gently for about 20 minutes, until the lentils are cooked, but they should still have a little bite

Salt, pepper from the mill

1-2 ts of Tuscan pasta spice (from Altes Gewürzamt)

spice up

400 g spaghetti

cook and arrange with the lentil bolognese

4 TS of parmesan, grated

serve sprinkled with Parmesan cheese

And this is how the wife of the captain does it

I use Puy lentils for this dish, which are pleasantly nutty in flavor. In the uncooked state, they are marbled green-brown, but this loses itself during cooking. They are not as floury as other lentils and keep “al dente”, which fits particularly well in salads or just this sauce.