Vegetarian Spaghetti Bolognese
Ingredients
- 240 g Green Lentils
- 1 L Vegetable Broth (or chicken broth if not strict vegetarian)
- 1 large Onion diced
- 2 large Carrots diced
- 3 stalks Celery diced
- 4 cloves Garlic minced
- 1 tbsp Olive Oil extra virgin
- 500 mL Tomato Puree
- Sea Salt to taste
- Pepper to taste
- 400 g Pasta of choice
- Parmesan Cheese optional, for garnish
- Fresh Basil optional, for garnish
Instructions
- Put lentils and broth in a medium sized pot, keeping around 80mL (1/3 cup) of the broth aside. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for around 25 minutes.
- While the lentils are cooking, in a large frying pan over medium heat warm the olive oil. Add in the onions and cook for several minutes until fragrent.
- Add the carrots, celery, and garlic to the pan with the onions. Cook, covered, until vegetables are soft, stirring occassionally, around 20-25 minutes.
- When lentils are cooked, drain, then add to the frying pan with the vegetable mixture.
- Add the tomato puree and remaining broth to the pan and mix well. Reduce heat to low and let cook, covered, stirring often, while preparing the pasta.
- Cook pasta following package instructions. When draining, save some of the leftover pasta water.
- If the sauce is too thick for your liking, stir in the pasta water, 30mL at a time until thin enough (generally no more than 120mL otherwise it could become too diluted).
- Served with fresh, grated parmesan or fresh basil leaves. Enjoy!
Notes
This dish would be great with zucchini noodles! If using regular pasta be careful not to go overboard with the serving size as, thanks to the lentils, the sauce is very filling.