Pasta Bolognese with Red Lentils

Dysphagia diet Pasta Bolognese dishes can be problematic, with mixed items (vegetables, meat) in a texture with a thin sauce. ‘Minced and moist’ diets need minced meat with a thick sauce. One way of achieving this is to use red lentils cooked with the mince. Together with the tomato purée this gives a tasty, thick ‘mushy’ sauce.

The pasta used can be a small Risoni type (<0.5cm) for minced and moist diets, or a short curl, or straight small penne or small macaroni for soft diets. Smooth puréed diets can be achieved by using the blender after cooking.

Ingredients                                        Serves 4

1 tbsp olive oil

300g lean beef mince

1 small onion finely chopped

1 carrot finely chopped

3 cloves garlic crushed

1 cup dried lentils washed and drained

700g tomato puree

1 tsp dried oregano

500ml salt reduced beef or chicken stock

2 cups shredded spinach or silverbeet

1 tbsp lemon juice

200g pasta

finely grated parmesan cheese

METHOD

1.     Heat oil in heavy based pan and brown mince over medium heat. Break up into small pieces <0.5cm. A small food processor is efficient for this task.

2.     Add onion and carrot  to the pan with the meat, and cook 5 mins.

3.     Add garlic, lentils, tomato purée, oregano and stock. Cover and simmer for 25mins.until flavour has developed and sauce has thickened. Add spinach and lemon juice and stir in to cook for 5 mins.

4.     Cook pasta in boiling water until soft then drain.

5.     Serve pasta with sauce topped with grated parmesan.

      TIPS FOR TABLE PRESENTATION AND FEEDING

1.     Minced and Moist diets - Use a smaller amount of cooked Risoni pasta than you would with a usual pasta; serve with plenty of the bolognese sauce to make an easy to chew and swallow meal.

2.     Smooth Puréed diets - Purée the cooked pasta  (1/2 cup cooked pasta with ½ cup hot water, 2 tbsp milk and15g grated parmesan ). Serve as a separate item to the blended meat sauce, but mix together to feed. Ensure texture not sticky and follow speech pathologist recommendations for a safe process.

3.     Spaghetti could be used for a soft diet but is not that easy to manage without splotching everywhere. Short pasta shapes are easier to eat.

If you found these recipes useful, and want to find out more about novel recipes for Dysphagia Diets, try one my books - either A Kitchen Manual for Preparation of Modified Texture Diets (2nd Edition) or Super Foods for Small Appetites - Home Based Modified Texture Diets