Name: Pasta with Sausage, Red Onion, and Lentils
Yield: Makes 6 first-course or 4 main-course servings
Ingredients: 1/2 cup dried lentils; 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil; 1 1/2 cups chopped red onion; 4 Italian sweet sausages (about 13 ounces), casings removed, crumbled; 3/4 cup dry red wine; 12 ounces small pasta (such as conchiglie or pennette); 3/4 cup (packed) grated pecorino Romano cheese (about 2 ounces); 3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh Italian parsley; Additional extra-virgin olive oil; Additional grated pecorino Romano cheese

"For my son's birthday, I'd like to make a pasta, sausage, and lentil dish that we both ate during an Italian vacation," writes Miriam Scott of New York, New York. "We stayed at Locanda l'Elisa, located just south of Lucca in Tuscany. The hotel's greenhouse-like restaurant, the Gazebo, served the pasta dish that was so wonderful. Could you possibly track down the recipe? "

Adding some of the pasta's cooking water to this dish gives it a creamy quality.

Recipe notes

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