As a good Neapolitan, I couldn’t miss the recipe for pasta and lentils on my blog, of course in a light version. I cooked this dish the Neapolitan way, as my mom did, dropping the pasta directly into the sauce. The result is a pasta that’s embraced and not watery, but rather: it should be slightly “sticky” as we say in Naples. And then you end up with only one pot to wash!
For the Weight Watchers diet, legumes are often considered proteins even though they have a high carbohydrate content. However, it’s important to note that a dish combining legumes with pasta or whole grains will provide noble proteins, meaning all essential amino acids, so legumes and pasta make a perfect meal for everyone, but especially for those following a vegan diet. Come and see the ingredients and procedure.
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- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Very cheap
- Preparation time: 5 Minutes
- Portions: 3 or 4
- Cooking methods: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Healthy
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients
- 5.3 oz pasta (preferably whole grain)
- 7 oz dried lentils (or 12.7 oz of cooked lentils)
- 2 carrots
- 2 stalks celery
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
- 2 teaspoons curry (optional, follow the link to make it yourself)
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin (optional)
- 3 tablespoons tomato paste
- to taste chopped parsley
- to taste salt
- Total points = 32 WW points
- Points per portion (divided into 3) = 11 WW points
- Points per portion (divided into 4) = 8 WW points
Tools
- Cutting board
- Knife
- Vegetable peeler
- Pot
- Wooden spoon
Steps
What I do to make pasta and lentils tastier is to prepare the lentils following this recipe: Spiced Stewed Lentils with the ingredients mentioned above. First, I boil the lentils for about 30-40 minutes, add a bit of salt at the end of cooking, and drain them, keeping the cooking water.
Use the same pot where you cooked the lentils and sauté chopped garlic, carrot, and celery with the teaspoon of oil. If you like, add Indian spices, curry, and cumin; I recommend it because they add a lot of flavor. Let it sauté for a few minutes, then add the tomato paste. Mix well and pour in the cooked lentils, just cover them with the reserved cooking water, and bring to a boil.
As soon as it starts to boil, pour in the pasta, in my case short mafaldine, but I generally use whole grain pasta: tubetti or cut spaghetti. Cover and let simmer gently over low heat, stirring occasionally, and if needed, add the lentil cooking water a little at a time. This, if you didn’t know, is called risotto-style pasta.
As soon as the pasta is cooked, al dente in my case, turn off the heat, adjust the salt, and let it rest for a couple of minutes. Our light Neapolitan pasta and lentils is ready to be served at the table!
I like to add a bit of fresh parsley chopped coarsely directly onto the plate, while the Dutchman likes to add spicy oil (very spicy, I make it myself) raw. My son, on the other hand, would add more tomato sauce because he likes it very red.
In short, to each their own taste, but the base is a delicious embraced pasta and lentils. And I won’t even tell you how much better it tastes the next day: even better! How do you prepare this classic of Italian cuisine? Let me know in the comments.
Enjoy your meal!
by Giovanna Buono
Storage
You can prepare pasta and lentils in advance and then reheat it, at the expense of the pasta being less al dente. It lasts for 3 days in the fridge, and I recommend reheating it in the microwave. However, if you want to freeze it, I recommend using grains instead of pasta, like bulgur or farro.
FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
Can I use already cooked lentils?
Of course you can. For this recipe, use 12.7 oz of drained canned lentils. If you use a different weight, you’ll need to recalculate the WW points. Since you won’t have the lentil cooking water, I recommend preparing some vegetable broth separately to use for cooking the pasta.
