Light Pasta Pomodoro with Lentils
A great source of fiber, iron, and folate, among other things, lentils make this tasty dish as nutritious as it is delicious. I like the smoked mozzarella better than the plain for this, as it imparts a wonderful, rich, nutty flavor. Try it, you'll like it!
Notes
- This is a real treat at potlucks and people rarely realize they're going vegetarian (especially with the caviar lentils).
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Ingredients
- 1 can vegetable broth
- juice from 1 can Ro-tel tomatoes (set aside the tomatoes)
- 1/2 cup lentils
- 1 jar pasta sauce
- 1/4 cup red wine
- 3 cups penne rigate or mostaccoli, uncooked
- 2 cups shredded part-skim mozzarella or smoked mozzarella cheese
Instructions
- In a small saucepan, stir together broth and Ro-tel juice; heat to boiling.
- Add lentils; reduce heat and simmer 35 minutes, covered, or until lentils are tender; drain. (Now, I add a few whole cloves of garlic and some pepper to this, straining out the garlic cloves when I strain the lentils...I think it just adds some nice flavor to the lentils).
- In a medium saucepan, stir together pasta sauce, Ro-tel tomatoes, wine and drained lentils; heat to boiling.
- Reduce heat; cook 5 minutes. (At this stage, I often add some chopped, fresh onions, green/red/yellow peppers and minced fresh garlic...I think it adds character to jarred sauce).
- Heat oven to 350F degrees.
- Meanwhile, cook pasta according to package directions; drain. (I start cooking the pasta about 15 minutes into the lentils' cooking time, so that everything gets done together).
- Stir together pasta and about 2½ cups sauce.
- Spread into 11x7-inch baking dish.
- Spoon remaining sauce over top, covering pasta completely; sprinkle with cheese.
- Bake at 350F degrees for 20 to 30 minutes so that everything blends well and the cheese browns and crisps up.
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