Earthy, herbaceous sauce of lentils and tomato perfect tossed through pasta or layered in a lasagna.

Lentil Ragu

Makes enough sauce for 2- 500g (2 lbs) pasta

Lately, my favorite human and I have been eating less meat than we normally would. This recipe came out of a desire to continue challenging myself to recreate familiar dishes without meat but with all the flavor and feel of the original. This ragu is a meatless version of my All Purpose Meat Sauce (recipe here) which was my take on the Italian-American meat sauce I grew up eating. I wasn’t sure if making sauce without meat would turn out well even though the internet offers hundreds of recipes for lentil ragu or lentil bolognese. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find that even without the meat, all of the traditional flavors and textures are spot on not only in the sauce but when tossed through pasta.

Ingredients

Lentils

227g (1 c) brown lentils, rinsed

30g (2 T) mushroom bullion

2 bay leaves

400ml (2 c) water 

Ragu

60ml (0.25 c) olive oil

350g (1 large) onion, small dice

175g (about 0.75 c) carrot, small dice

100g (1/3 c) celery, small dice

1 cheongyang or serrano chili, minced

10 garlic cloves, minced

2g (0.50 t) kosher salt

4g (1 t) black pepper

4g (1 t) gochugaru

3g (1 T) Italian seasoning

1g (0.50 t) dried thyme, rubbed

1g (0.50 t) dried rosemary, crushed

2 whole star anise

75ml (1/3 c) red wine

45ml (3 T) soy sauce

480g can (1- 28 oz can) whole peeled tomatoes, crushed by hand

100ml (0.50 c) water

Method

1.      In a medium pot place the lentil ingredients. Cover and bring to a boil.

• Once at a boil, stir and uncover slightly.

• Continue to boil stirring occasionally for 7 minutes.

• Remove from heat, replace the lid and allow to sit until needed.

The lentils can sit for up to 20 minutes while continuing to Step 2.

2.      Heat a large pot over medium-high.

• Add the olive oil and hat for 15 seconds.

• Add the onion, carrot, celery, chili, garlic and salt.

• Reduce to medium and cook stirring occasionally for 15 minutes or until the vegetables have softened and are just beginning to stick slightly to the pan.

• Add the herbs, whole and ground spices and saute for 30 seconds.

• Add the wine and cook 2 – 3 minutes longer or until the pan is almost dry again.

• Add the soy sauce and cook for 1 minute.

• Add the tomatoes, rinsing the can out with the water and adding to the pot.

• Add the lentils and bring to a boil.

You have two options with the lentils the first, is to drain the lentils of their cooking liquid and adding to the pot along with the bay leaves they cooked with as well as an additional 50ml (0.25 c) water and 2g (0.50 t) salt. Second you can add the lentils without draining right into the pot, no need to and anything else.

Both ways are delicious but yield slightly different results. Draining the lentils results in a ragu that is a cleaner with a less pronounced legume flavor while not draining the lentils makes their flavor in the ragu slightly stronger.

• Reduce the heat, cover and simmer on low for 40 minutes.

• Taste and adjust the seasoning as desired.

3.      Toss half the sauce through pasta adding pasta water as necessary.

4.      Serve.