Swiss Chard and Red Lentil Ragu With Fettuccine
A fantastic light and fresh tomato pasta sauce to enjoy in the sun. Red lentils help give this vegetable ragu a thick and sumptuous bite.
When to eat
I recommend eating this dish from late April to October. If you are cooking this dish in the summer months from July to August, why not try making the chopped tomatoes from the fresh British varieties.
Swiss Chard and Red Lentil Ragu With Fettuccine
A fantastic light and fresh tomato pasta sauce to enjoy in the sun. Red lentils help give this vegetable ragu a thick and sumptuous bite.
This meal is around 86% less polluting than the average UK meal.
Eating this recipe will save around 2.54 KG CO2e per person.
That’s equivalent to the emissions produced driving 21.03 KM in a modern car.
How do I calculate this?Ingredients
- 300 g Fettuccine
- 800 g Chopped Tomatoes
- 2 Tablespoons Tomato Paste
- 2 Banana Shallots
- 2 Medium Carrots
- 2 Sticks Celery
- 2 Cloves Garlic
- 2 Tablespoons Balsamic Vinegar
- 200 g Red Lentils
- 200 g Swiss Chard
- 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
Instructions
- Finely dice the shallots, celery, carrot and garlic. Heat the olive oil in a large deep pan over a medium heat. Tip in the chopped ingredients and cook for about 3 – 4 minutes or until the shallots are see-through. Add the balsamic vinegar and tomato paste and cook for a further minute. Pour in the lentils and stir well to mix the pan ingredients. Tip in the chopped tomatoes, bring the the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 15 – 20 minutes or until the lentils are soft. You may have add a little water here and there to avoid the ragu getting too thick.
- When the ragu has about 10 minutes to go, prepare and cook the Fettuccine. Bring a pan of salted water to the boil and add the pasta. Reduce to a simmer, cover and cook for about 10 – 15 minutes until the pasta is aldente. Drain and reserve in the pan until the ragu is finally ready.
- Once the lentils in the ragu have softened, slice the chard into thick ribbons and stir into the tomato mixture. Cook for about 3 – 4 minutes or until all the chard has wilted.
- Season the ragu to taste with salt and pepper then ladle the tomato sauce over potions of the Fettuccine.
2 Comments
Ben
February 22, 2022 at 11:51 am
Loved this one! Only issue I had was I found the lentils took much longer to cook than expected. Any tips on this?
hugo
February 22, 2022 at 12:30 pm
Hmmm, it might be that the lentils used were different size. I should have specified I used red “split” lentils – which take a shorter time to cook. I’ll recipe test this again when I get round to it and update cook times.