How To Prepare Lentil Mushrooms Pasta
Browned mushrooms, lentils, vegetables and boiled pasta cooked in a rich, thick and saucy tomato soup. Lentils combined with chopped mushrooms gives this pasta sauce a lovely texture and makes this dish irresistible.
Lydia Kadima 
Tips for making browned mushrooms and lentils pasta
You can use red wine to deglaze the vegetables, or you can add some red wine vinegar or lemon juice at the want a tangy flavor.
To save time, prepare your lentils in advance or buy them already cooked. This will eliminate the need to start from scratch.
Use a food processor to finely chop the mushrooms so you can avoid hunching over a cutting board and still achieve the proper meaty texture.
While the sauce boils, you can add additional vegetables like roasted vegetables, finely chopped spinach, or shredded carrots.
The vegetables bulk up the veggies in the sauce and enhance their flavor and texture.
Ingredients
300g orecchiette pasta
1 cup brown lentils, rinsed
225 g Cremini or Portobello mushrooms, stems trimmed, chopped into ¼" pieces
¼ cup vegetable oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 tsp. salt, or more if desired
2 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
¼ cup double-concentrated tomato paste
½ tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
1½ oz. Parmesan, finely grated (about ½ cup), plus more for serving
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces
½ cup coarsely chopped parsley, plus more for serving
Procedure
Over medium-high heat, add oil to a sizable Dutch oven or other heavy pot.
Add the onion and mushrooms, and simmer for 12 to 14 minutes, stirring periodically, or until the mushrooms are well-browned and beginning to adhere to the bottom of the saucepan. Add salt sparingly to the dish.
Add the red pepper flakes, tomato paste, lentils, garlic, and simmer, stirring frequently, for about two minutes, or until the tomato paste darkens slightly and the lentils are coated.
Bring to a boil after adding 6 cups of water then reduce heat, cover, and simmer gently for 10–12 minutes, or until lentils are cooked but still retain some bite.
Put pasta and a teaspoon of salt in the pot then increase the heat and bring to a boil.
Reduce heat and simmer, stirring often, especially as the liquid starts to reduce toward the end, and adding half a cup of very hot water as needed if liquid is reducing too fast.
Simmer until pasta is cooked through and liquid is reduced, 10–14 minutes.
Stir in the chopped parsley, butter, and grated Parmesan after turning off the heat in the pot. If necessary, taste and add salt as needed.
Serve the pasta in bowls and garnish with more grated Parmesan cheese and freshly chopped parsley.
Conclusion
Incorporating mushrooms into pasta sauce is a wonderful method to increase the amount of vegetables in your diet. In addition, lentils and mushrooms go together so well to create a filling, cozy pasta sauce.
