Italian Lentil Ragu with Spaghetti

Ingredients

• 1 onion
• 1 carrot
• 1 garlic clove
• 1 celery stalk
• 30g mushrooms
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1 can lentils, green or brown
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 tbsp tomato puree
• 200g passata
• 1 tsp lemon juice, fresh
• 150g spaghetti, whole wheat
• 20g parmesan
• salt
• black pepper

Method

1. Put a large heavy bottomed pan on a low heat. Boil a full kettle.
2. Peel and finely chop the onion and carrot, peel and crush the garlic, finely slice the celery and mushrooms.
3. Heat the oil in the pan and sauté the onion, celery and carrot for a 5 minutes. Add the garlic and mushrooms and stir. Cook for a further 5 minutes.
4. Drain the lentils and add to the pan. Stir to combine, add salt and pepper and the oregano. Cook for a further 3-4 minutes.
5. Make a well in the centre of the pan and add the tomato puree. As you hear it start to sizzle, slowly stir it first in the centre, then starting to incorporate some of the mixture around it until you're stirring the whole mixture in.
6. Add the passata. Add a good splash of cold water to the tomato container, give it a swirl and add to the pan with the lemon juice. Stir well to combine and allow to simmer gently while you cook the spaghetti.
7. Using the boiled water from the kettle, cook the spaghetti as per the pack instructions. Stir the ragu sauce and check for seasoning and adjust as necessary.
8. Drain the pasta and serve with the ragu sauce, sprinkled with a tbsp of parmesan.