I’m always looking for new pasta sauces to turn our weekly pasta night into a fresh taste experience. Admittedly, I was skeptical when I first looked at this recipe in one of my old Italian recipe books but oh, so pleasantly surprised when I tasted it that same night. Went over just as well with the rest of the family so I’m sure we’ll have it again. To make this a vegetarian/vegan dish just replace the bacon with 1 to 2 tbsp of olive oil.
Whole wheat linguine with lentil tomato sugo (serves 4)
4 rashers bacon, diced
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 to 5 sticks celery, thinly sliced
1 cup mixed lentils ( I usually go for red, green and black beluga lentils)
4 cups (1l) vegetable stock
1x 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
4 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2/3 cup red wine
1 tsp or to taste coriander, ground
sea salt and cracked black pepper
Place the bacon in large pot over medium heat and cook for a few minutes to release some of its fat. Then add the onion, garlic, celery and cook for another few minutes. Add the lentils and stock, bring to the boil, cover, reduce the heat and allow to simmer for about 20 to 30 minutes or until the lentils are cooked to your liking.
Meanwhile cook the pasta according to instructions, drain and keep warm.
Add the tomatoes, red pepper flakes, balsamic vinegar and red wine to the sugo and season to taste with salt, pepper and coriander. Allow to simmer, uncovered for another 5 minutes until slightly reduced.
Serve the pasta topped with the sugo.
