Vegetarian Bolognese
This delicious vegetarian version of Ragù alla Bolognese is a rich and flavourful mushroom, tomato and red wine sauce.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 125g/1 onion, peeled and roughly chopped
- 125g/1 carrot roughly chopped
- 150g/1 red pepper, stem and seeds removed, roughly chopped
- 16g/4 garlic cloves, peeled and roughly chopped
- 250g mushrooms, roughly chopped
- 125ml/½ cup dry red wine (or substitute with water or stock)
- 400g passata (plus ½ cup of water to swill out the bottle/carton)
- 250ml vegetable stock
- 70g tomato puree/paste
- ¼ - ½ teaspoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce
- 2 sprigs fresh thyme (or ¼ tsp dried thyme)
- ¼ - ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
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Preheat oven to Fan Oven 130°C /150°C/300°F/Gas 2
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Prepare the onion, carrot, pepper and garlic. Tip into a food processor and blitz until finely chopped. If you prefer you can chop the vegetables by hand.
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Add 1 tablespoon olive oil to the cast iron casserole pan, over a medium heat and add the onion, carrot, pepper and garlic. Cook for 5 - 10 minutes, until softened and slightly caramelised.
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Prepare the mushrooms. Tip into a food processor and blitz until finely chopped. If you prefer you can chop the mushrooms by hand.
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Add the mushrooms to the pan and cook until the liquid comes out. Continue to cook until it disappears, add the remaining olive oil and cook until soft. This should take around 5 minutes in total.
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Add the wine and cook on high until reduced by half. Remember to scrape up the delicious sticky residue left by cooking the vegetables.
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Add all the remaining ingredients to the cast iron casserole dish. Start with ¼ teaspoon of sugar only and add more to taste. Stir well and bring to a gentle simmer.
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Cover with the lid and cook in the oven for 1 hour, until the vegetables are very soft and the liquid has reduced a little. Taste and adjust seasoning.
Recipe Notes
Equipment:
- Chopping board and knife
- Kitchen scales and measuring cups and spoons
- Cast iron casserole/Dutch oven/saucepan
- Food processor
Serve with spaghetti:
This recipe is most commonly served with spaghetti. I would allow 100g spaghetti per person.
- Cook the spaghetti in salted water as described on the packet, minus one minute
- Remove 250ml/1 cup of cooking water from the pasta and then drain the pasta in a sieve or colander.
- Add the pasta to the sauce with 1 - 2 tablespoons cooking water per person.
- Toss the pasta and meat sauce and continue to cook for 2 minutes until the sauce thickens and is coating the pasta. Add more cooking water if necessary.
- Serve with freshly grated parmesan cheese and shredded basil.
I serve my pasta sauce as they do in Italy - with the sauce just coating the pasta. Emma prefers more sauce on her pasta than me - just go with your own personal taste! Eat it just the way you like it!