BELUGA LENTIL BOLOGNESE
Hello! I hope you’re all keeping well. Sorry I’ve been M.I.A for so long. If you follow me at all you’ll know I started Palm Greens two years ago now and haven’t seemed to be able to find time to keep up with recipes for my blog as well as running the new business.. but I’m determined to get back into it! I miss writing, photographing and sharing recipes, so this is the first in my comeback. A black lentil bolognese, if you can’t find black lentils you can substitute for brown, puy or even red would work. I use a lot of bay leaves compared to other recipes you may see but I think they have such a special flavour and don’t overpower. There’s also a few notes on ingredients a long the way with the recipe. They’re all fairly standard store cupboard ingredients so you should have no trouble making this during lockdown.
Just choose the pasta and sides you’d like to eat with this and enjoy!
Beluga Lentil Bolognese
Serves 4-6
250g dry black lentils - soak overnight
50ml rapeseed oil
1 large onion, diced
2 clove garlic, minced
Bunch bay leaves - about 5
1 tsp salt *
2 large carrots, washed and diced
125ml red wine
600g rustic passata or chopped tinned tomato
25ml balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp picked and chopped fresh thyme, or 1 tsp dried
1 tbsp fresh oregano, or 1 tsp dried
50ml extra virgin olive oil
Salt to taste - about another teaspoon
Freshly ground black pepper - about a teaspoon or to taste
To serve
Pasta of your choice
Nutritional yeast - flaky umami cheesy goodness
Fresh chopped herbs - I’m loving fresh chopped chives at the moment
Side salad or seasonal greens
A note on ingredients :
* I’m using rapeseed to cook and extra virgin olive oil to finish. Rapeseed has a higher smoking point than olive oil, as well as having a neutral flavour it’s a great option for cooking, the nutrients of extra virgin olive oil diminish over certain heat but it’s a perfect for finishing a dish.
* I like to use either pink Himalayan or Maldon sea salt. Both have a great flavour and retain essential minerals that highly processed salts don’t. Sea salt flakes are perfect for finishing and pink salt is good to cook with. Bare in mind when using fine pink salt that because it is finer 1 teaspoon is more than1 teaspoon of flaky sea salt. Make sure to taste before adding more at the end.
To make the bolognese :
Drain and rinse the lentils, heat a large deep pan, add the rapeseed oil then onions and salt. Cook on medium low heat until softened but not browned, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, bay leaves and carrots and cook for another minute before adding the red wine, cook this off for a couple of minutes. Add your lentils, cover with fresh water and tomatoes, cover and cook on medium low heat for about 40-60 minutes. The longer you cook this for the better it is. So if you can wait, leave it for an hour or more even, checking that the mixture doesn’t become too dry and adding a little more water to loosen if needed.
Ten minutes before you’re ready to serve, put on your pasta, cooking according to packet instructions. Add the balsamic and herbs to you sauce and cook for another 10 or so minutes. Finish with the olive oil and taste for seasoning, adding black pepper and more salt if needed.
When the pasta is ready, drain & rinse, reserving some of your pasta water.
If you don’t want to eat all of the sauce on the same day, separate out a portion into a smaller pan that will also fit your cooked pasta. Heat the sauce, add the pasta, mix well to combine and heat through, adding pasta water to loosen if needed. The starch from the pasta water will help to create a beautiful synergy between pasta & sauce.
Serve finished with some nutritional yeast, extra chilli or chopped chives (I’m loving at the moment), a side salad or some cooked seasonal greens.
Any extra bolognese will keep well in the fridge for a few days and freezes really well too.