If a painter had to pick the ideal colours so as to paint an ideal pasta dish, he wouldn’t start with brown (or anything brownish, if you ask me). And no green in a “salad” either? Are we sure?…
This fusilli salad is this rare combination of a really appetizing, hearty and healthy dish. What is not very appealing is its monotonous colours, but you’ll be pleasantly surprised to find out that its taste makes up for the mediocre looks of it.
Lentils, unlike other legumes, don’t need pre-soaking, so you can be quite spontaneous about it, although it is more time-consuming than other recipes on this site.
Laziness factor: 2
(where 0 is making a phonecall and 4 is selling refrigerators to Eskimos living in igloos)
Ingredients for 4 servings:
– 250g whole wheat fusilli
– 250g lentils
– 1 small red onion
– 4 teaspoons of mustard
– 3-4 tablespoons of olive oil
– some balsamic vinegar
– 2 garlic cloves
– salt
1.
Lentils, depending on the variety, may take from 20 minutes to 1 hour to get cooked, so pay some attention to the instructions on the package.
2.
Start boiling the lentils in unsalted water, because salt toughens them up. The sauce will be really savoury anyway…
3.
When the lentils are done, drain them in a strainer and rinse them to cool them down. Put them in a bowl and let them wait a bit.
4.
Immediately start boiling the fusilli according to the instructions on their package.
5.
While the pasta is getting cooked, slice the onion and add it to the salad bowl.
6.
In a blender, put the mustard and add the olive oil.
7.
Also add some balsamic vinegar (no more than two teaspoons) and the two peeled cloves of garlic.
8.
Add a little bit of salt and blend them for half a minute.
9.
When the pasta is ready, drain it, rinse it with cold water, drain again and add to the salad bowl.
10.
Mix everything and optionally serve with some oregano on top. That’s your strength for an entire day!
Alternative lazy scenario:
Although I don’t recommend it, you can lower the Laziness factor to 1, by cooking the lentils in a pressure cooker, which doesn’t help the lentils keep their nutritious elements, but will have them ready in 10 minutes…
Also, you can make a killer dish out of this salad by [simply] adding 2 more garlic cloves, that is 4 in total, but then you won’t be able to talk face to face to anyone who hasn’t had some of it, too… 😉
For the visual types in the crowd, here is a video of this great recipe:
What is LazyPasta.com?
Lazy Pasta is the page to explore the world's collection of easy pasta recipes - and then some more elaborate ones. As our life has become faster, you can also try our quick recipes that use favourite pasta types like spaghetti, lasagne, fusilli and rigatoni, that are combined to create simple pasta dishes.
All the Lazy Pasta recipes are presented in photos, which guide through the step-by-step process, and they all end up with their respective pasta recipe video.
Categories of pasta recipes
Lazy Pasta recipes are divided into categories: there are vegetarian pasta recipes, pasta recipes with meat, pasta recipes with seafood and fish, pasta salads, pasta soups and recipes with baked pasta.
The recipe presented above is Fusilli salad with lentils and it belongs to the Pasta Salad Recipes category.
Why pasta?
Pasta is a great ingredient for quick and delicious dishes. Perfect pasta dishes don't always have to be hard to prepare. According to Lazy Pasta there is "an easy pasta recipe for every human on the planet".
Although it's hard to tell which country pasta originates from (whether it's Italy or China), the history of pasta is long and interesting.
Truth be told, pasta has become popular as an ingredient of the Italian cuisine and it forms part of the Mediterranean diet. Pasta dishes can be ordered and devoured in various Italian restaurants all around the world.
The secret of the pasta may lie in its simplicity. It is usually made of white flour or wheat flour, but today we also have the options of whole wheat pasta and, more recently, gluten-free pasta.
Then again, the list of ingredients that can be used in a pasta recipe is endless; The sauce can be anything for a simple tomato sauce to bechamel sauce, white sauce with cream or other dressings. Garlics and onions are great friends of pasta, vegetables and other greens like parsley, dill, spinach, zucchini, peppers, broccoli and mint can be found in various recipes, while cheese is an absolute ticket to success, either grated, sliced or baked on top.
No matter how elaborate a pasta recipe is, the result can be mouth-watering and is certain to please everyone's palate.
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