Spaghetti with lentils, and aubergine veggie-balls: Jacob Kenedy’s autumn pasta recipes

Some 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.

Lentils and spaghetti (pictured top)

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.

Prep 5 min
Cook 55 min
Serves 4

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 panadd 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 thickened by pasta starch and mostly emulsified; you may need to add more pasta cooking water as you go. Serve immediately, with or without cheese.

Aubergine veggie-balls and pasta

The Italian word polpette (usually translated as “meatballs”) in fact encompasses any balls of minced or pulped vegetables, fish or meat. They could be made from beef or pork or chicken or veal, or aubergines or courgettes or pulses, or bread or greens, or white fish or salted fish or oily fish or prawns: if you can pulp it, you can polpette it.

Prep 15 min
Drain 1 hr
Cook 2 hr
Serves 4

For the sauce (can be made ahead)
2 garlic cloves , peeled and thinly sliced
4 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 small pinch chilli flakes (optional)
800g chopped tomatoes (if fresh, keep their skins and seeds and chop finely; if canned, this is 2 cans)
Sea salt and black pepper

For the veggie balls (can be made ahead)
2 large aubergines (total weight 1kg)
1 egg, lightly beaten
100g parmesan, suitable for vegetarians, grated, or pecorino romano,
100g dried breadcrumbs
2 tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley leaves
1 tbsp chopped mint leaves
1 tbsp chopped basil leaves
1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed
Sea salt and black pepper
About 40g plain flour
Olive oil, for frying

When ready to eat
400g dried spaghetti – this is also good with bucatini, cavatelli, fusilli, linguine, mafaldine, penne or spaghettini
1 quantity simple tomato sauce (see below and method)
3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
12 basil leaves
80g pecorino romano, suitable for vegetarians, grated

For the sauce, heat a saucepan over a medium heat, not until smoking, but until you think something might sizzle. Add the garlic and oil and fry until the garlic slices just barely start to colour at the edges. Add the chilli flakes if using, then straight after, the tomatoes.

Season with salt and pepper and simmer, stirring often, over a low heat, until slightly thickened and with oil rising to the top – 20–30 minutes. Taste carefully for seasoning.

Heat the oven to 220C (200C fan)/425F/gas 7. Prick the aubergines and roast them for one hour until completely tender. Cool until safe to handle, then peel them. Drain the peeled flesh in a colander under a weight for an hour or so (or, if you’re in a rush, lay it in a long sausage shape in a clean tea towel, then wring it dry). You should end up with roughly 230g drained aubergine.

Chop it finely, put in a bowl and mix in the egg, cheese, crumbs, herbs and garlic, and season to taste. Form into walnut-sized balls and coat in the flour.

Fry the veggie balls in the oil until cooked through and nicely golden brown. You can choose either to deep-fry them, in oil not more than one-third of your chosen pan’s depth, for safety reasons, at 180C for four minutes; or shallow-fry them in oil 1cm deep, turning every couple of minutes to cook on all sides. Drain and leave to cool on kitchen paper.

Cook the pasta according to the packet instructions in abundant, well-salted water (10g per litre).

Meanwhile, reheat the tomato sauce in a wide pan over a medium heat. Add the veggie balls and simmer, stirring occasionally, for five to 10 minutes. Drain the pasta and set it in a large wide bowl.

At the last moment, stir the oil and basil into the sauce and pour the sauce and aubergine balls over the pasta. At the table, toss the sauce gently into the pasta and serve on warmed plates with a little pecorino atop.

• This is an edited extract from Pasta Tricolore: Recipes in Green, White and Red by Jacob Kenedy, published by Bloomsbury at £18.99. To order a copy for £17.09, visit guardianbookshop.com