Prep Time: 10mins                      Cooking Time: Approx. 15mins                             Serves: 4

I’ve tried many lentils ragù over the years and I particularly like this recipe because it is simple to prepare and very versatile. I love how versatile this recipe can be, it's great with meatballs, sausages, cod, or with more vegetables like aubergines, peppers or potatoes.

The base for this ragù is called a classic "Italian Battuto": one celery stick, one large carrot and one onion (same amount of each basically) all diced up and gently fried with just a few tablespoons of olive or rapeseed oil. What makes this utterly delicious is the combo of lentils and dry mushrooms. It's hearty, warming and so well balanced, even better if you add some grated cheese on top.

You don't need to, but I would recommend soaking the lentils if you want to make them softer and (and if you have time) - rinse, cover with fresh water, bring to the boil and let them simmer for 20 minutes. Once done place them in a sterilised jar while still hot, close it and let it cool down at room temperature. Keep it refrigerated and use within a couple of weeks.

INGREDIENTS (serves 4)

• 320g Pastificio Carleschi Wholegrain Spelt Maccheroni
• 250g Green Lentils (We recommend Hodmedod's whole green olive dry lentils)
• 20g Dry Mushrooms (ideally ceps)
• 1 celery stalk
• 1 large carrot
• 1 brown onion
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 Glass of dry white wine
• 500ml Tomato Passata
• 3 tbsp EV rapeseed oil (more if you like)
• Sea Salt (To taste)
• Black/green ground peppercorn (To taste)

INSTRUCTIONS

For the Sauce:

• Start by soaking dry mushrooms in 500ml of boiling hot water (and put the kettle back on as you will need more hot water later) and rinsing the dry lentils in cold water.
• Dice all the vegetables. Then add rapeseed oil to a no stick (or heavy bottomed) pan or pot. Add the vegetables. Cook gently at a very low heat, this will create a "Soffritto".
• Fish the mushrooms out and chop them finely (keep the hot brown water aside). Add them to the Soffritto once all diced vegetables are cooked and slightly browned.
• Add the bay leaves, the dry lentils and pour in the glass of wine. Increase the heat to medium/high and reduce all the wine.
• Once the wine is reduced, add the tomato passata, the mushrooms water, salt and pepper and another 500ml of boiling hot water.
• Once boiling, reduce the heat to minimum, put the lid on and let the ragu simmer away for at least 1 and a half hour stirring it occasionally.
• Once ready the ragu should be thick and creamy with soft lentils. Add hot water and keep cooking if you feel that lentils are still too hard.

For the Pasta:

• In a pot of your choice, bring water to a boil
• Add Salt to the boiling water (I like to add around 2-3 generous pinches)
• Follow cooking Instructions on the pasta packaging.
• Drain the Pasta
• Add the pasta to the sauce 

Buon  Appetito!