Ingredients
| Lentils, green, dry | 3 ½ pounds |
| Tomatoes, canned, crushed, no salt | 7 pounds |
| Tomato sauce, canned, no salt | 6 ½ pounds |
| Water | 2 quarts |
| Garlic, granulated | 1 cup |
| Italian seasoning | ½ cup |
| Onion, diced, frozen, chopped | 2 ¼ pounds |
| Milk, lowfat | 1 ¼ quarts |
| Vinegar, balsamic | ½ cup |
| Pasta, rotini, whole wheat, dry | 6 pounds |
| Cheese, Parmesan, grated | 3 ⅛ cups |
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 °F
- Rinse lentils and sort out any unwanted materials. Drain well.
- In a 6-inch, full-size pan, combine crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce, and water. Whisk to combine.
- Add granulated garlic and Italian seasoning. Whisk to thoroughly blend.
- Add onions and lentils. Stir to mix into sauce.
- Place the steam table pan in the oven and bake for 60 to 75 minutes.
- Once baked, remove from the oven, add milk, and stir to completely blend.
- Add the balsamic vinegar and stir.
- Boil water in a steam-jacketed kettle, tilt skillet, or in a large pot on the stove top.
- Add pasta to boiling water, return to a boil as quickly as possible.
- Cook pasta for 6 to 8 minutes.
- Drain pasta as quickly as possible.
- Place one cup of rotini pasta in a serving bowl using an 8-ounce spoodle. Top with an 8-ounce ladle of lentil Bolognese sauce.
- Garnish with one tablespoon of Parmesan cheese.
Recipe Notes
For 50 servings, total cook time for lentils = 60 to 75 minutes.
Total preparation time = 20 minutes, plus cook time
Do not add milk and balsamic at the same time as it will curdle the milk. Mix well between adding each ingredient.If using a steamer, put pasta in hotel pans with water to cover, and increase cooking time to 6 minutes using maximum steam.