Bleeding Espresso

13 January 2010

What’s Cooking Wednesday: Pasta e Lenticchie

Lenticchie, or lentils, are a common menu item for New Year’s Eve/Day meals in Italy, often served with cotechino. They are supposed to bring good financial luck because of their shape like small coins.

Well, we didn’t do the cotechino this year, but I did manage to come up with a way to enjoy our lentils.

Pasta with legumes is a big thing in La Cucina Povera (peasant food/cooking); they’re both fairly cheap, always on hand, and together make a great stick-to-your-ribs dish. You’ve seen it before with Pasta e ceci, one of our all-time favorite meals, and now it’s time for Pasta e Lenticchie for this What’s Cooking Wednesday.

I came up with this recipe by taking bits of online Calabrian recipes–adjusting things to our tastes. You may find that you want a little more tomato or that you like it more like a minestra, or soup. Please feel free to play. It’s hard to go wrong with these ingredients.

Also note that I used already cooked lentils from a can because that’s what I had on hand; if you use dried lentils, check out these cooking tips for dried lentils.

Pasta e Lenticchie
(Pasta and Lentils)
Makes 2-3 servings

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small onion, chopped finely
1 peperoncino, chopped (optional)
2 cherry tomatoes, diced (remove skins via quick plunge in hot water if you like)
2 cups (500g) water flavored with bouillon cube or strongly flavored stock
300 g (about 3/4 cup or one can/jar) cooked lentils
Small bunch of parsley, chopped
Basil leaves to taste
1/2 pound (250 g) small soup pasta, like lumachine
Parmigiano reggiano or Grana Padano cheese (optional)

1. Heat olive oil in medium pot and add onion, peperoncino, and tomatoes and let saute for a few minutes.

2. Add water, lentils, parsley, basil, and dry pasta.

3. Turn up the heat so that it comes to a slow boil and cook until pasta is done. If you need more stock to cook the pasta thoroughly, add a little at a time; alternately, if you just want more of a soup, add at least another cup of stock.

4. Test for salt and other flavors and adjust accordingly. Serve hot with shredded Parmigiano Reggiano or Grana Padano cheese.

Buon appetito!

16 beans of wisdom »

16 beans of wisdom to “What’s Cooking Wednesday: Pasta e Lenticchie”

Lisa at Wanderlust Women on 13 Jan 2010 at 2:07 pm #

This is good old fashioned Italian comfort food. Like American mac and cheese. Yum!

Indeed!

Lisa at Wanderlust Women´s last blog ..The rugged shores of Calabria, Italy call out to women with winter wanderlust
elizabeth on 13 Jan 2010 at 2:38 pm #

As an ardent fan of both pasta and lentils, I need to try this ASAP. It would be perfect to have on hand to bring in the office for lunch.

Reheats great, but for me, it’s great cold too (shh don’t tell the Italians)

elizabeth´s last blog ..12.27.09: antojitos (exploring Mexican small plates)
Rosina DeSantis on 13 Jan 2010 at 3:26 pm #

My mother use to make a similar recipe. Here, in NM, we are limited with the types of pasta you can buy. Here, their main dish has green chili in it.
Thanks for sharing!

Mmm green chili…yum!
anne on 13 Jan 2010 at 3:42 pm #

Definitely would have this, I love pasta in a soup …a real winter warmer oh we need it .

This is a great warmer-up indeed, Anne; enjoy!

anne´s last blog ..More Snow!!!!
nyc/caribbean ragazza on 13 Jan 2010 at 4:11 pm #

This would be perfect on a day like today. It’s cold and raining. The wind cuts right through you.

Absolutely. Hopefully these types of days pass quickly into primavera….
carolyn on 13 Jan 2010 at 5:37 pm #

I think I will substitute this dish or something else with lentils for our Southern version of good luck on New Years Day…..black eyed peas! This recipe sounds fantastic…can’t wait to try it! Thanks!

Now that’s a high compliment; thanks Carolyn!
The Food Hunter on 14 Jan 2010 at 12:06 am #

I wish I had a bowl of this right now!

Just about a half hour and you can!
somepinkflowers on 14 Jan 2010 at 12:47 am #

this
is how i name the days of my week:

Monday
Tuesday
Michelle’s What’s Cooking Wednesday
Thursday
and so on…

anything with parmigiano reggiano calls my name loudly.
thank-goodness.

{{ this is one of my grocery ~spurge~ items;
have you any idea what REAL parmigiano reggiano costs here?
—> tons of $$$ }}

And this is certainly a sad thing…of course we can’t find bacon very easily….
Jillian on 14 Jan 2010 at 1:27 am #

Looks so good!

Was tasty indeed, Jillian; thanks for coming by!

Jillian´s last blog ..Week two and California Weekend
Gil on 14 Jan 2010 at 6:52 am #

Looks and sounds delicious! My wife made lentils with sausage for New Year’s Day. Also delicious!

Sounds great Gil!
kredyt studencki on 14 Jan 2010 at 2:11 pm #

WOW it looks delicious I believe it’s really easy to make it fast. Cheers!

Thanks for coming by!
Bren on 14 Jan 2010 at 6:05 pm #

Okay I’m trying for the 3rd time to leave a comment. Was saying I had no idea you guys celebrate with lentils for NY! We do black beans, but I love me some lentils and their earthiness!

*So* earthy! Great way to describe them! Sorry about the comment trouble though…I think it was payback because I’ve had a heck of a time trying to see your ICBINB video! Still, looks great!
Cathy on 14 Jan 2010 at 6:37 pm #

This looks like a good recipe to try. We did manage to eat the lentils and the cotechino, but on New Year’s Day, mind you it was only about 1am! That is the thing about New Years Eve here in Italy, you tend to eat so much beforehand, and then to fit in the lentils and cotechino, you need to wait a while to be able to do it!

Haha, we usually end up with the lentils after midnight too…I think you’re actually supposed to have them on the first so it works out OK

Cathy´s last blog ..Buongiorno
Martha Ann on 15 Jan 2010 at 9:35 pm #

It’s very cold here in the upper U.S. Midwest and your recipe has inspired me to move to the stove, boil the water, create your pasta and lentils and pretend, pretend, pretend that I’m in Italy and warm.

Also, this may be a little close to home for you, considering your three kids, but I would love it if you would post a capretta recipe I could put on All Things Goat under Fantastic Food.

Oh we’re capretta eaters too…just not *our* kids When I do a capretta recipe (we usually do a ragù), I’ll be sure to let you know. And thanks for coming by, Martha Ann; as you know I love your site!
Jenny Woolf on 15 Jan 2010 at 11:43 pm #

That sounds good. I am always looking for nice veggie dishes. I can imagine this would be great with oak smoked tomatoes too.

I’ve never heard of oak smoked tomatoes, but I like pretty much anything smoked and I love tomatoes, so….sounds great to me!

Jenny Woolf´s last blog ..Lewis Carroll in USA Today
Pete Perry on 17 Jan 2010 at 8:21 pm #

Marry Me.

ok – then just come cook with me.

Would love to! Especially if there’s bacon….

Pete Perry´s last blog ..homemade pancakes and bacon…