I initially thought that I would end up with too much bacon to pasta - interestingly, the amount of bacon could have been doubled along with everything else. Despite adding 8 oz of fresh mushrooms and 2/3 oz of fresh chopped basil, I still didn't feel like there was enough topping to the amount of pasta. This recipe needs some kind of sauce as a base - maybe adding some tomato paste would have given it more oomph.

Reviewed On: Nov. 21, 2009

The taste of this recipe is very pungent and flavorful. Doubling the recipe produces about five servings, if this is the main course. I substituted olive oil for butter and used a 1/2 chicken broth + 1/2 water mixture. Cooking the rice for 20 minutes left it really mushy - would try 10 minutes next time. The amount of liquid to solid was about right.

Reviewed On: Nov. 16, 2009

Solid recipe - very hearty and full of taste. I added some garlic, two small diced potatoes, sliced cauliflower stalk, 1 tbsp sweet paprika, a generous sprinkling of oregano, 3 diced tomatoes, and diced portabello mushroom caps (vs canned mushrooms). The lentils were cooked after about an hour, but I let it go for an additional 30 mins. Really full robust taste and a good recipe to cook on weekends to give yourself a break the rest of the week!

Reviewed On: Nov. 8, 2009