Dinner Every Night: Pasta with Lentils

Mar 30, 2012

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I never get too far away from this subject in my mind, apparently: the challenge of putting good food on the table day after day, after day, after day.

Though I have waxed poetic in the past, today’s revisit is purely practical.

Pasta. With lentils. Damn is that some fine food! Every time I eat beans and noodles together I promise myself I will remember how good the combination is. And every time, two days out, I forget again and think “Pasta? With beans? Wouldn’t that be weird?”

Last night’s incarnation involved leftover penne mixed with leftover lentil soup thawed from frozen two days ago (complete with potatoes and carrots) mixed with one leftover hamburger patty, crumbled up. Sounding crazy? Wait, there’s more! The soup was very thick, so I added a puck of frozen chopped tomatoes and a healthy glug of olive oil to the skillet. I had a small handful of peas from the garden too. I heated it all up over high heat so that the pasta got that little bit of a fried texture and all the flavors thoroughly infused.

How can something so humble, concocted of such seemingly random and incongruous items, taste so delicious! Leftovers or no, I encourage you to try lentils with pasta soon.

Comments

6 responses to “Dinner Every Night: Pasta with Lentils”

Julie

March 30, 2012

Awfully carb heavy to me, but looks great.

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Eileen

March 30, 2012

That doesn’t sound weird at all–it sounds AWESOME. How great is leftover lentil soup with pasta? I like to thicken it up on the stove for damn near instant pasta fagioli.

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jillian

March 30, 2012

We make Lentils and Soba noodles frequently. Saute onions and garlic in some olive oil until soft, throw in a handful of frozen peas, a couple cups of cooked lentils, and season with some bragg’s liquid aminos or soy sauce. Serve the lentil mixture over cooked soba noodles or other pasta. Very yummy!

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See My Footprints

March 31, 2012

if it works, and tastes good. then great :)
Glad you found a decent meal and a good way to use up leftovers.

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dixiebelle

March 31, 2012

I loved the rice & lentil combination I had when in Turkey, but I’ve never been able to replicate it. Same as rice & beans (or beans & rice) when I was in Central America… I can’t seem to get that combination right either! Maybe pasta with lentils is the dish for me!!

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Clara

April 1, 2012

I. love. this. idea. Why haven’t I thought of this before? Lentils and pasta are two of my favorite foods, it only makes sense to combine them! Brilliant, my dear. Glad I’m not the only one coming up with crazy combinations with leftovers!

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