puy lentil bolognese

This puy lentil bolognese is a brilliant meat-free Monday dinner and freezer filler. I do feel like a little constraint is a bigger boost to my imagination than a wide open choice of what to eat. So forcing Monday to be meat-free in our house encourages me to try lots of new recipes. And I like the fact that many (but not all) veggie options are a great way to get tons of healthy goodies into our diet. But bigger than that, is the environmental impact of us all eating just one day less of meat a week.

There are a host of reasons to eat totally meat-free but, I’m afraid, I like eating occasional good quality meat alongside my veggies too much to revert to my full on teenage-angst vegetarian phase full-time. My 14-year-old vegetarian self survived by eating Linda McCartney’s meatless meat pies (and listening to a lot of The Doors). Now my grown-up self is encouraged to be meat-free the campaign started by Sir Paul and her daughters.

How Puy lentil bolognese is a great change from a traditional meat sauce

I first made this lentil bolognese when we were on a self-catering holiday and I wanted to have ingredients for dinner that would survive a long car journey without being chilled. So meat was out and lentils were in. All I did was use the same type of technique and ingredients as I would use for a classic meat bolognese but substitute the beef with some Puy lentils. I do love a good lentil and they give a wonderful meatiness to a dish, their texture means they work well as a substitution to minced [ground] beef in many recipes.