Lentils simmered in tomato sauce with onion and carrot, over wholewheat pasta with parmesan. Twenty-five minutes.
Lentils are measured cooked; 200 g cooked is about 80 g dry, or a drained tin. Pasta is measured cooked; 180 g cooked is about 80 g dry.
- Ready in25 minutes
- Prep5 min
- Cook20 min
- Serves1
Ingredients
- 200 g lentils (cooked, or canned and drained)
- 200 g tomato pasta sauce
- 50 g onions
- 60 g carrots
- 180 g wholewheat pasta (cooked weight)
- 10 g parmesan, grated
- 6 g olive oil
Method
- Dice the onion and carrot finely.
- Heat the olive oil in a pan over medium heat and cook the onion and carrot for six minutes until soft.
- Add the lentils and the pasta sauce and simmer for ten minutes. Season.
- Cook the pasta in salted water until just tender if it is not already cooked, drain, and serve with the sauce and the parmesan grated over.
What this plate gives you
Thirty grams of fibre is more than the 28 g the Dietary Guidelines set for a whole 2,000-calorie day, from 200 g of lentils and 180 g of wholewheat pasta together. The same two give most of the 35 g of protein. At 758 calories it is 38 percent of that day, with 16 g of fat, which is why the portion of pasta is what it is. The lentils are measured cooked, and brown or green ones hold in a sauce where red ones dissolve into it.
Swaps
- Half the pasta: 130 calories fewer.
- Leave out the parmesan: 40 calories fewer, and it becomes vegan.
- Mushrooms diced into the sauce: no change worth counting, more depth.
Keeping it
The sauce keeps four days in the fridge and freezes for three months. Cook the pasta fresh.
