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Veggie & Lentil Ragu
This vegetarian ragu marries the umami of mushrooms and earthy sweetness of beets and carrots to create a tantalizingly rich bowl of pasta goodness. I love adding in protein-packed black caviar lentils (!!!) because they hold their form throughout the cooking process with a delightfully tender chew, but green lentils work well too.
The result is the same gorgeous deep red color and intensely pleasurable and filling bite you want from ragu while keeping it meat-free and a bit lighter. I’m using giant shells called conchiglie, but feel free to use any sturdy shaped pasta you like — or roasted spaghetti squash!
Veggie & Lentil Ragu
Prep time: 25 minutes
Cook time: 1 hour
Serves: 6 (makes 5 ¾ cups ragu)
*For all vegetables below, you have the opening to finely chop by hand or rough chop and add to a food processor to finish the job – whatever sounds best to you!
Ingredients
1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
4 to 5 medium carrots, peeled and finely chopped
2 stalks celery, finely chopped
1 (8-ounce) package cremini mushrooms, cleaned, finely chopped
8-ounces red beets, peeled and grated on the large holes of a box grater (1 ¾ cup)
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/3 cup tomato paste
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons fresh thyme sprigs
1 cup black lentils, rinsed
½ cup dry red wine
1 (15-ounce) can crushed tomatoes
2 cups vegetable stock
1/3 to 1/2 cup whole mil and/or 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, optional
12-ounces to 1-pound dried or fresh paccheri or rigatoni pasta
Parmigiano-reggiano, grated to garnish
Basil leaves, to garnish
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Special Equipment
Food processor (optional)
Instructions
•If you roughly chopped your vegetables, place the celery, carrots, and mushrooms, into the bowl of a food processor fitted with the blade attachment. Pulse until finely chopped.
•Heat the olive oil in a large Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat. Add the chopped vegetable mixture plus the grated beets, season with salt, and allow the vegetables to sweat for 12 to 15 minutes stirring occasionally. You are looking for the vegetables to dry out here but not get brown. Dry vegetables almost look paste-like with no pools of released liquid when you look at the bottom of the pan.
•Add the tomato paste and allow to cook for 2 minutes or so until deep red in color and caramelized, this helps bring out the natural sweetness of the paste and remove the bitterness. Stir to coat in the vegetable mixture. Add the garlic, thyme, and black lentils, and cook for another 2 minutes, to sweat the garlic and lightly toast the lentils.
•Deglaze the pot with the red wine, bring to a simmer and allow to reduce to concentrate all the flavor goodness. Then add the crushed tomatoes and vegetable stock. Season with salt again. Bring to a simmer then partially cover the pot and allow to simmer for 30 minutes until the lentils are al dente and the sauce has thickened. A ragu is thicker than many tomato sauces, more like a rich gravy, and it will have a nice hearty consistency to it.
•Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the paccheri and cook 1-2 minutes shy of the package instructions. Reserve 1 cup of the pasta cooking liquid (it is loaded with sticky starch and salt to help you build the perfect sauce!) before draining when the pasta is nicely al dente.
•When the ragu is finished, feel free to add the milk and/or butter if you want to add some creaminess to your sauce. This is totally optional but traditional ragu uses milk. I usually put the cooked pasta back into it’s now empty cooking pot over low heat and toss together with a few ladles of ragu, a hearty splash of pasta water, a knob of butter and a splash of milk, stirring until the pasta is coated. You can add more milk or butter to your desired richness.
•Serve in shallow bowls garnished with Parmigiano-Reggiano and basil.
•Sauce stores well in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or freezer up to 2 months.
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