Jacob Kenedy’s lentils and spaghetti. Photograph: Phoebe Pearson/The Guardian. Food styling: Rosie Reynolds. Prop styling: Florence Blair. Food styling assistant: Stevie Taylor. View image in fullscreen Jacob Kenedy’s lentils and spaghetti. Photograph: Phoebe Pearson/The Guardian. Food styling: Rosie Reynolds. Prop styling: Florence Blair. Food styling assistant: Stevie Taylor. Italian food and drink Spaghetti with lentils, and aubergine veggie-balls: Jacob Kenedy’s autumn pasta recipes A deliciously humble lentil and spaghetti dish, and a meat-free riff on meatball pasta made with aubergine veggie-balls
Prefer the Guardian on Google S ome plant-based pasta dishes are light, bright and summery – pesto genovese , tomato sauce, aglio e olio – but some have an umami and complexity that is normally associated with more carnal pleasures. Here are two. Pasta with lentils is a firm personal and family favourite – my mum and I make this dish whenever we fancy something really comforting, and the earthiness of the lentils plays against grassy olive oil and parsley, and the texture of the pasta. True cucina povera – a humble meal, and deliciously so. Veggie-balls are also great things. Polpette (normally translated as meatballs) is just balls (of anything pulped), after all. They can be made of white fish, oily fish or vegetables. I particularly love courgette for its bright, green, fresh flavour, and, above all, rich, velvety, chocolatey aubergine. Of course, you can eat them on their own, but I also love them through pasta, as a vegetarian riff on spaghetti and meatballs.
As I write this, my mum is just as alive and at least as vital as she was when she used to make this dish for me, but, for some reason, this is now a dish I make more often, and for her. I adore it, but every time I have offered it to an Italian they look at me as though I have just insulted their mother. Don’t ask me why; people can be as inexplicable as this dish is delicious. You can add some chilli (dried or fresh) when you fry the garlic, if you like, but I prefer this comfortingly bland and without pep.
For the lentils (can be made ahead) 180g small brown lentils , such as castelluccio or puy 2 bay leaves When ready to eat 400g dried spaghetti – this is also good with bigoli , ditali/ditalini, farfalle, garganelli, linguine, mafaldine, orecchiette, pappardelle or tagliatelle Sea salt 4 garlic cloves , peeled and chopped 5 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil 4 tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley leaves 50g butter , or 3 tbsp more extra-virgin olive oil 60g parmesan , suitable for vegetarians, grated (optional) Put the lentils into a small saucepan with the bay leaves and about 500ml water. Bring them to a simmer and cook until completely tender and mushy – about 45 minutes; no al dente here – adding water so the lentils and water are level at the end of cooking.
Cook the pasta according to packet instructions in abundant, well-salted water (10g per litre).
Meanwhile, fry the garlic in a saucepan in half the oil over a medium heat until golden, no darker. Add the lentils and a splash of pasta water, then bring to the boil.
Drain the pasta a minute or so more al dente than you like to eat it, reserving some of the cooking water. Put the drained pasta in the lentil pan, add the parsley, the remaining two and a half tablespoons of oil and the butter (or three more tablespoons of oil), then stir or toss over a high heat until the pasta is as al dente as you like, and the sauce is thi…