Here it is another very good traditional pasta recipe coming from the area of Naples, following the similar previous ones made with beans, with chickpeas and with potatoes 🙂
Lentils are a very good and healthy legume, rich in proteins and in iron.
There are various types of lentils, with different colors, shapes, size. And differently than other legumes it’s not needed to soak them for hours in water.
The fact the we don’t soak them in water for hours it’s also helping to keep them firm after cooking.
Usually pancetta or lardo (or guanciale) is used too, to make this dish even more tasty (they match perfectly with lentils!), but also just with a good extra virgin olive oil is perfect.
Tomato: this time I used the triple tomato concentrate, but also a good tomato sauce or some good and tasty fresh tomatoes (when it’s their season) are good choices, of course.
On the web you can find recipes with pre-cooked canned lentils: well, it’s possible, but they don’t have the same taste and neither the same texture, so if you aim to the best result just choose the dry lentils and be patient 🙂
Let’s see how to make it!
INGREDIENTS (2 people):
- 120-140 g of lentils
- 180 g of mixed pasta (or small pasta like ditaloni, tubetti, etc.)
- 30 g of pancetta or lardo or guanciale
- some extra virgin olive oil
- 1 cloves of garlic
- 1-2 ribs of celery
- 1 tablespoon of triple tomato concentrate (or some tomato sauce, or few fresh tomatoes)
- chili (just enough)
- vegetable stock
- Parmigiano Reggiano rinds, a couple of pieces (optional)
- 1 bunch of parsley
- freshly ground black pepper
- fresh rosemary, thyme, sage to add extra flavor
- salt
- First of all, if you don’t have it already, prepare the vegetable stock with the usual onion, celery, carrots, parsley, etc.
- Then cut the guanciale/pancetta into thin slices. Take a pot and heat the extra virgin olive oil with the guanciale/pancetta, then once the animal fat got some nice color and has become a bit crunchy (this if you use pancetta or guanciale, not the lardo) add the celery which you have previously cut into small pieces, the chili and also the garlic (smash it with the flat side of the knife), and cook at low heat until soft. Once the garlic got some color remove it.
- Then add the lentils and mix them with the other vegetables inside the pot, let them cook together for 2-3 minutes, then add some ladles of hot vegetable stock, the triple tomato concentrate diluted in some stock and the Parmigiano Reggiano rinds, add also the herbs, better if tied together so you can remove them more easily later, and season with some salt (but not too much, especially if the vegetable broth is already salted, and consider that the Parmigiano Reggiano rinds are also salted). Let the lentils simmer for about 20 minutes at low heat.
- After that time (but try the lentils first, maybe you need some more minutes) remove the herbs and you can add the pasta, pour some more vegetable stock exactly enough to cover the pasta. Control if the salt is enough.
- While the pasta is cooking (it will take about 10-15 minutes, depending on which pasta you use, read the package) keep stirring regularly to avoid the pasta to attach on the bottom, and if you need you can add some more stock, but not too much, the final texture has to be quite thick and most of the liquid absorbed by the pasta.
- When the pasta is cooked add the freshly chopped parsley and also some freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano if you would like, mix all together.
- Serve it, with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and some freshly ground black pepper if you would like 🙂 Enjoy!
PS: if you would like to have it more creamy you can take out 1/3 or 1/4 of the cooked lentils with some liquid and reduce in a cream with an immersion blender. In any case a good pasta richer in starch will give you better results in this recipe.
Alternative: when it’s the season, I use to add fresh wild garlic instead of parsley, that’s very good too 🙂
Here below another example, where I enriched this recipe with pieces of “oca in onto”, goose confit preserved in jar with its fat…even better! 🙂
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Products used in this recipe:
Pasta: mixed pasta from Pastificio Gentile
Polenta & Baccalá 
Very interesting combination. You give me so much inspiration 🙂 :)! Thank you!
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Thanks to you for always reading 🙂
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Sometimes I cook German lentil stew with short pasta (instead of Spaetzle) but this looks much tastier!!
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Thank you 🙂 I like spaetzle 🙂
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This is wonderful! I’ve never seen a pasta dish with mixed pastas! I would have assumed it wasn’t allowed, but I guess I’m wrong!!! Love the lentils in here. Thank you!
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Hi Mimi, thank you 🙂
Normally it’s “not allowed” 😀 but in the area of Naples there are many recipes where traditionally it’s used mixed pasta (and mostly just in that area it’s used to do so). Nowadays they sell packages with already mixed pasta inside (but for example already in northern Italy you will hardly find them in the stores), but originally the reason was to use the remaining/broken pieces of pasta at home, and in this kind of “soupy” pasta recipes it’s perfect. And in that area of Italy people eat a lot of pasta so they always had enough mixed/broken pasta remaining to use in this way, it’s probably the most famous area for the dried pasta, especially the village of Gragnano (while Emilia Romagna is the most famous for fresh pasta).
Thanks again for reading!
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That is so interesting! I can definitely see “leftover” dried pastas in a soupy pasta recipe, it makes sense. I’ve never been to Naples, sadly, or further south, even though my father is from Sicily. But we have traveled through some beautiful areas of Italy, and sampled the delicious foods of the regions.
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I love Sicily! I was there last summer 🙂 the Sicilian food is simply great! 🙂
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It’s on our list! I can’t wait!!
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Especially the fish there is great (and at good prices!), and also the sweets 🙂
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I didn’t know about the sweets – I can’t wait for the seafood!
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I tell you just some: cannolo siciliano (always prepared fresh at the moment, with cow ricotta in the eastern/southern part and with sheep ricotta in the northern/western part of the island), granita siciliana, cassata, cioccolata di Modica, paste di mandorle, tartufo, biancomangiare, brioche con granita (or gelato), buccellato, torta Savoia, torta al pistacchio (the famous pistacchio of Bronte is in Sicily), frutta martorana,..and many other sweets 😀
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Wonderful!
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This is interesting. I have never tried the combination of pasta and lentils. I love both. It looks really good. Thanks for sharing.
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Thank you! 🙂
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y grandmother made a very austere version of this dish, the lentils flavored only with onions sautéed in olive oil and mixed with linguine broken into pieces. It was my favorite pasta growing up. Now I want to try this richer version…
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I’m sure that’s also good 🙂 you know, especially in the past people were cooking everyday with what was available in that day in the kitchen 🙂 here the fresh herbs and the Parmigiano rinds add an extra touch, I’m sure you will like it 🙂 let me know! And thanks for reading, I also enjoy your blog 🙂
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My husbands family are Sicilian and pasta e lenticchie was a staple, though I’ve never cooked it myself. Shall have to give this one a go. 😊
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I’m going to have it right today 🙂
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Ahhhh, enjoy 🙂
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Reblogged this on Crackling Pork Rinds.
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