Lentil, veal and zucchini spelt pasta
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- sea salt
- cracked black pepper
- 1 brown onion finely chopped
- 500 grams veal mince
- 1200 grams cherry tomatoes canned
- 1 cup basil leaves, plus extra to serve
- 400 grams tinned lentils drained and rinsed
- 400 grams wholemeal spelt spaghetti
- 1 zucchini shredded
- parmesan, to serve finely grated
- Carbohydrate 16.74772 g
- Cholesterol 0 mg
- Fat 1.59857000036184 g
- Fiber 4.92450016784668 g
- Protein 3.6668 g
- Saturated Fat 0.241945000049962 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (379g)
- Sodium 165.433950000007 mg
- Sugar 11.8232198321533 g
- Trans Fat 0.232198750009799 g
- Calories 83 calories
Step-by-step
- Heat the oil in a large saucepan over high heat. Add the onion and veal and cook, breaking up any lumps with a wooden spoon, for 3 minutes. Add the tomato, basil, salt and pepper. Stir to combine.
- Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes or until cooked through. Add the lentils and gently stir to combine. Set aside.
- While the sauce is cooking, cook the spaghetti in a large saucepan of salted boiling water for 10 minutes or until al dente. Drain.
- Divide the pasta and sauce between bowls. Top with the zucchini and extra basil leaves and sprinkle with pepper and parmesan to serve. Serves 4.
Doubling pasta meat sauces often results in watery dilution because home cooks fail to account for the trapped moisture inside canned tomatoes. Veal mince carries less fat than beef or pork, meaning it releases more water than grease as proteins tighten during the initial three-minute high-heat sear. Cooking this sauce in a wide, heavy-bottomed Dutch oven rather than a deep saucepan increases surface area and accelerates liquid reduction by twenty-five percent. When scaling quantities upward by a factor of two, keep the tomato volume proportional but reduce the added liquid slightly to prevent stewing the meat. Spelt pasta requires precise timing in salted boiling water, usually ten minutes for a sturdy al dente bite, because ancient grains lack the elastic gluten network of modern durum wheat and disintegrate faster if overcooked. Tinned lentils add earthy weight and absorb excess sauce rapidly, acting as a natural thickener once combined off the heat. Storing leftovers safely requires chilling the sauce and pasta in separate airtight glass containers within two hours of cooking, where they will keep for up to three days in a refrigerator set below four degrees Celsius. Reheating works best in a skillet with two tablespoons of water added to reconstitute the starch matrix without burning the shredded zucchini garnish.
