Lemon-herb tofu with Mediterranean rice
Herb-roasted tofu with rice, courgette and parsley.
About 45 min · 470 kcal · 31 g protein per serving
Vegan
Lentil and walnut bolognese with spaghetti
A lentil sauce with toasted walnut for body, over spaghetti.
By The foodose editorial team. Nutrition calculated from USDA FoodData Central. Checked on paper on 21 September 2026; not yet cooked in a test kitchen or photographed, so the times and yield are estimates. How we develop our recipes
What still needs a real kitchen
- Confirm the sauce thickens in 20 minutes of gentle simmering
- Photograph the finished bowl
- Time
- About 50 min
- estimated
- Serves
- 2
- see below
- Energy
- 580 kcal
- per serving
- Protein
- 26 g
- per serving
Ingredients for 2 servings
Check off ingredients as you go.
Contains gluten, tree nuts. Check the labels on packaged ingredients:
- passata. Some passata is salted; check the label.
- spaghetti. Most dry pasta is just wheat and water, but some contains egg; check the packet.
Cooking steps
Toast the walnuts in a dry pan for 3 minutes, then chop them as finely as you can, almost to a powder.
Soften the finely diced onion and carrot and the sliced garlic in the oil over medium-low heat for 10 minutes. Take your time; this is where the sweetness comes from.
Add the drained lentils, the passata and the chopped walnuts, and simmer gently for 20 minutes, stirring now and then, until it has thickened.
Cook the spaghetti, keeping a cupful of the cooking water before you drain it.
Toss the spaghetti through the sauce with a splash of the reserved water, tear in the basil and serve.
The useful detail
Chop the walnuts almost to a powder. Left in pieces they sit on top and taste like a garnish; ground down they dissolve into the sauce and give it the richness that meat would.
Make it work for you
One serving is Half the sauce over half the spaghetti. You can switch to a smaller portion in the ingredients above; it is three quarters of this, and it contains correspondingly less energy and protein. It is an option, not a goal.
Ground almonds instead of walnuts
Sweeter and less bitter, and already fine.
Per serving: about 5 kcal less, about 1 g more protein, about 1 g less fat.
Allergens: Both are tree nuts.
Red lentils cooked from dry
They collapse completely, giving a smoother sauce. Use 130 g dry.
Wholemeal spaghetti
Nuttier and firmer, with more fibre. Nutrition is not recalculated.
Estimated nutrition
Per standard serving, calculated from the ingredients above. Nutrition changes with substitutions, brands and how much oil stays in the pan.
A pasta dinner where the sauce rather than the pasta carries the protein, which is what lets the spaghetti portion stay modest.
| Energy | 580 kcal |
|---|---|
| Protein | 26 g |
| Fat | 13 g |
| of which saturates | 2 g |
| Carbohydrate | 96 g |
| of which sugars | 17 g |
| Fibre | 20 g |
| Sodium | 90 mg |
Show calculation notes
Each ingredient’s weight is multiplied by its USDA FoodData Central values per 100 g. The whole recipe is added up and divided by 2. Raw weights are used for meat, fish and vegetables; beans and lentils are drained weights. All of the oil is counted as eaten. Added salt is not included; sodium from stock, bread, cheese and tinned food is.
| Ingredient | Weight used | Source | Energy | Protein |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| walnuts | 20 g | FDC 170187Nuts, walnuts, english | 131 kcal | 3.0 g |
| onion | 120 g | FDC 170000Onions, raw | 48 kcal | 1.3 g |
| carrot | 120 g | FDC 170393Carrots, raw | 49 kcal | 1.1 g |
| garlic | 10 g | FDC 169230Garlic, raw | 15 kcal | 0.6 g |
| olive oil | 9 g | FDC 171413Oil, olive, salad or cooking | 80 kcal | 0.0 g |
| cooked lentils | 300 g | FDC 172421Lentils, mature seeds, cooked, boiled, without salt | 348 kcal | 27.1 g |
| passata | 300 g | FDC 170460Tomato products, canned, puree, without salt addedCalculated with FoodData Central's unsalted tinned tomato purée record, the closest match to sieved passata. | 114 kcal | 4.9 g |
| spaghetti | 100 g | FDC 169736Pasta, dry, enrichedFoodData Central records dry pasta as one entry rather than by shape. | 371 kcal | 13.0 g |
| fresh basil | 10 g | FDC 172232Basil, fresh | 2 kcal | 0.3 g |
| Whole recipe | Divided by 2 | 1159 kcal | 51.5 g |
Per serving the energy is rounded to the nearest 5 kcal, grams to the nearest whole gram and sodium to the nearest 10 mg. Calculation method 1.0, September 2026. How the calculation works.
Storage and reheating
- In the fridge
- Cool it quickly, cover and refrigerate within 2 hours. The FDA chart gives soups and stews 3 to 4 days. The sauce freezes well on its own; cook the spaghetti fresh.
- In the freezer
- The same chart gives soups and stews 2 to 3 months in the freezer for best quality.
- Reheating
- Reheat until it reaches 74°C / 165°F, steaming hot throughout, stirring so it heats evenly.
Checked against US Food and Drug Administration, Refrigerator and Freezer Storage Chart, USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service, Leftovers and Food Safety, FoodSafety.gov, Safe Minimum Internal Temperatures and FoodSafety.gov, Cold Food Storage Chart. UK guidance from the Food Standards Agency is shorter, at two days for most leftovers.
Try another recipe
Creamy roasted pepper tofu pasta
Pasta in a smooth roasted pepper and silken tofu sauce.
About 25 min · 355 kcal · 18 g protein per serving
Vegan