I’m sure somewhere a nonna in Puglia is getting ready to chastise me for putting lentils together with orecchiette. These little ears are usually served with a very simple sauce of cime di rapa, kind of leafy turnip tops, and when they’re not available, sprouting broccoli makes a great alternative. When you’re eating a plant-based diet however, you have to be mindful about packing protein into almost every meal and ideally a large quantity of this needs to come from unprocessed plant sources rather than the growing selection of “fake meats” (that I love!) available. And so I added the lentils. Taking this dish up from around 10-12g of protein from the broccoli and pasta to around 20g. These are all approximations taken from the manufacturers nutritional information. All this technical stuff aside, it’s simple to make and it tastes delicious.

INGREDIENTS (Serves 3-4)

250g dry weight orecchiette (or pasta shapes of your choice)

Around 10 stems of sprouting broccoli

2 tbsp olive oil

1 small onion, red or white

2 cloves of garlic

1/2 teaspoon of salt

50mL water

400g can green lentils, or 250g cooked green lentils when drained

METHOD

Peel and finely slice the onion and garlic cloves, add to a large frying pan with the olive oil and sauté on a low heat for minutes or so it until they soften. Trim the dry tips from the cut stalks of the broccoli and add to the pan with the 50mL of water, increase the heat slightly if needed to create steam, as the water evaporates, the broccoli will cook. Let this pan simmer, while you prepare the pasta.

Cook the orecchiette in boiling water according to instructions until it is just al dente, this usually takes 8-10 minutes. When the pasta is almost cooked, add the drained lentils to the pan containing the broccoli and stir gently. Add the salt.

Take half a cup or a couple of ladles worth of pasta water out before you drain the orecchiette and put to one side. Add the drained pasta to the pan containing the broccoli and mix gently, adding a few tablespoons of the reserved pasta water to create a slightly emulsified sauce. The broccoli should be softened and wilted by now. You can serve this with a vegan Parmesan alternative grated on top or if you’re feeling adventurous make some pangrattato to sprinkle over. Alternatively simply spoon into a bowl like as pictured above and enjoy the comforting flavours simply as they are.

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