I had a long(ish) run to do on Saturday morning, so that was as good an excuse as any to have spaghetti the night before. Unfortunately, The Meat Eater didn’t look at his phone and get my ‘can you get some spaghetti when you go to Tesco please’ text, so I had to improvise and have half spaghetti and half pasta shapes.
The lentil and tomato sauce was a tad too bland for me and my lack of tastebuds, so I improved it by covering it in cheese and Encona Hot Pepper Sauce.
A quick and easy dish, with ingredients that you’ll probably already have in (if you haven’t run out of spaghetti).
Spaghetti with lentil and tomato sauce (serves 4)
Taken from Rose Elliot’s New Complete Vegetarian
3 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 large garlic clove, crushed
400g can chopped tomatoes
1/2 tsp dried basil or oregano
1/2 tsp powdered cinnamon
225g split red lentils
425ml water
2 tbsp red wine (optional)
salt and freshly ground black pepper
225g spaghetti
grated Parmesan-style cheese, to serve (optional)
- Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a large saucepan and cook the onion, with a lid on the pan, until tender (about 10 minutes).
- Stir in the garlic, then add the tomatoes, herbs, cinnamon, lentils, water and wine (if using) and bring to the boil.
- Simmer the mixture with a lid on the saucepan for about 25 minutes or until the lentils are tender. Taste and season with salt and pepper.
- Shortly before the lentils are done, cook the spaghetti in plenty of boiling, salted water until just tender, then drain thoroughly in a colander.
- Tip the drained spaghetti back into the still-hot saucepan, and add the remaining oil and some freshly ground black pepper.
- Add the sauce to the spaghetti, mix gently and serve. Or, if you prefer, serve the spaghetti on warm plates and top with the sauce.
- Sprinkle with the grated cheese (if using).