Pasta e lenticchie (Italian lentil and pasta stew)
Pasta e lenticchie is a thick Italian stew where brown lentils simmer in a tomato and rosemary broth and small pasta cooks right in the same pot, releasing starch that makes it creamy.
Published . First sent in issue 5.
- Prep
- 10 min
- Cook
- 35 min
- Serves
- 4
- Protein
- ~26 g
- The vegan swap
- Nutritional yeast stirred in at the end does the salty, nutty job a shower of Parmesan usually would.
- Make ahead
- Keeps 4 days in the fridge. It thickens a lot overnight, so add a splash of broth or water when you reheat.
Ingredients
Base
Stew
How to make it
Build the base
Heat the oil in a large pot over medium. Cook the onion, carrots and celery for 5 minutes until soft. Stir in the garlic, tomato paste, rosemary and pepper flakes for 1 to 2 minutes, until the paste darkens.
Simmer the lentils
Add the lentils, 6 cups of the broth, the bay leaf and the salt. Bring to a boil, then partially cover and simmer 18 minutes until the lentils are almost tender.
Cook the pasta in the pot
Stir in the pasta and the last 1 cup of broth. Simmer uncovered 10 to 12 minutes, stirring often so nothing sticks, until the pasta is tender. Add a splash of water if it gets too thick.
Finish
Turn off the heat and remove the bay leaf. Stir in the spinach, nutritional yeast and lemon juice until the spinach wilts, about 1 minute. Season with salt and pepper and drizzle each bowl with olive oil.
Why this works
Cooking the onion, carrot and celery slowly with tomato paste builds a sweet, deep base fast. Toasting the paste for a minute or two takes away its raw edge.
Cooking the pasta right in the stew lets its starch thicken the broth into something creamy, with no dairy needed. The lentils keep softening while the pasta cooks, so both finish tender at the same time.
Tips
- Chop the vegetables small so they melt into the stew and cook fast.
- Stir more often once the pasta goes in. Starch likes to settle on the bottom.
- A spoonful of chili crisp or a few capers on top is a great twist.
Questions about this recipe
Can I use red lentils instead of brown?
They will turn to mush and make more of a thick porridge, which is tasty but different. Green lentils work fine and cook in about the same time as brown.
Should it be a soup or a stew?
In Italy it is somewhere in between: thick enough to stand a spoon in, but still loose. Adjust with broth until it looks how you like it.