Mushroom and Lentil Ragu, Roasted Broccoli

Dinner 3/16

Mushroom and Lentil Ragu

Roasted Broccoli

It was one of those Tuesday "clean out the refrigerator" nights, finding things lurking in the crisper or on the back of the fourth shelf. It's almost a bit of an Iron Chef or "Chopped" kind of game -- find a way to use seemingly disparate foods in a cohesive manner. So, in tonight's mystery basket: cremini mushrooms, carrots, onion, celery, brown lentils, tomato sauce, chiocciole pasta, and two heads of broccoli.

We pressure cooked the lentils (16 minutes, first ring), roasted the broccoli (olive oil, salt & pepper, 450F, 15 minutes), made a quick tomato sauce (onion, celery, carrot, garlic, smoked paprika, tomatoes), sauteed the sliced mushrooms (splashed with tamari at the end of cooking) and cooked the pasta. To finish we combined the sauce, the lentils and the mushrooms and let cook together for a few minutes and served it over the pasta, topped with the roasted broccoli.

While it might not when any style points on Iron Chef or Chopped -- it sure was tasty ;)

Tags: mushroom, lentils, tomato, pasta, broccoli, vegan, food, dinner, tofu666