📍NAPLES

Pasta e Lenticchie

Today I'll share a recipe from an area near Naples that straddles the Campagnia and Puglia regions of southern Italy.

The Naples area is famous for inventing Neapolitan-style pizza, a flatbread dish that is popular worldwide. If you visit Naples, be sure to see the Greek, Roman and Renaissance art and architecture. When I'm there, I feel as though a peek under nearly any building's flooring will reveal the ruins of an ancient or medieval civilization. Not too far east of Naples is the Puglia region of Italy, with its expansive wheat farms and olive groves. My recipe today understandably originated in this region of the country. An important reason Italy is known for its delicious cuisine is its use of fresh, nutritious, and locally sourced ingredients - And so it is with this recipe.

It's called Pasta e Lenticchie, or Pasta and Lentils - Neapolitan style. It’s easy to prepare, great for those who want lots of protein without meat, and for those who simply love pasta. My great grandfather Giancento Morfese (the Italian spelling of our name), and his sister, Filomena , both pictured below, no doubt cooked this dish and passed along the recipe to my grandmother, Lucia. And then she passed it along to my Dad...who passed it along to my brother, Bill, and me. A typical Italian American family tradition!

My brother, Bill Calautti, recently made the dish, after watching our Dad prepare it.  Bill prepared it in part from memory and in part from a cookbook.

Buon Appetito! 

- Lucy

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Pasta e Lenticchie

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

• 1 cup dried lentils, either green or brown (It’s not necessary to soak the lentils - Just pick them over dry to discard the ones you don’t want to use. Dry lentils make this dish thicker and less like soup.)

•  6 Tbsp olive oil

• 1 clove of garlic, cut into pieces

• 1 medium onion, finely chopped

• 1 stalk celery, finally chopped

• 1 carrot, finely chopped (carrot is a good sweetener in this dish.)

• 9 cups water or chicken/vegetable stock

• 1 leaf fresh sage or 1/8 tsp dried sage

• 1 sprig fresh thyme or 1/4 tsp dried thyme

• Salt and pepper to taste

• 2 1/2 half cups ditalini pasta

• 1/4 cup finely chopped ham (optional) 

Instructions

• Heat the olive oil over medium heat with the chopped ham if you're including meat.

• Add onions and garlic. 

• Stir for 2 minutes.

• Stir in celery and carrots for 5 more minutes.

• Add the lentils to coat.

• Add the stock or water or both.

• Add sage and thyme.

• Bring to a boil and cook 1 hour or until the lentils are tender.

• Add uncooked ditalini and cook just until done - about 10 minutes.

• Serve! 

• In my brother Bill's photo below, note that he generously added parmesan cheese and parsley sprigs.