Spaghetti With Mushroom Bolognese

A light vegetarian meal tastes flavorful and so much better  after all the indulgence.  Sometimes my daughter asks if I am thinking to adopt a vegetarian lifestyle.  Actually I have considered a few times but I can not do it because I love eggs and eating meat occasionally. However I try to substitute meat with veggies and soy protein whenever possible. As you can tell from the title, today’s spaghetti recipe gets a vegetarian makeover.

Bolognese is a meat and tomato based sauce originally from Bologna, Italy. It is thought to have originated sometime during late 18th century and was served with tagliatelle pasta. Of course, there is no single recipe of bolognese sauce but some of the basic ingredients remain the same such as onions, beef, tomatoes, milk and wine. I had been thinking from quite a while to try this sauce with some other meat or veggies because we do not eat beef for cultural reasons. I used mushrooms to replace meat, rest of the ingredients stayed the same. Since it only takes 35 minutes to cook, it can be a hearty week night staple. When I prepare these kind of sauces I always  make a large batch to freeze it.

The sauce making  process is pretty simple and straight forward. Cook the mushrooms and veggies till all the moisture evaporates, add the wine and tomatoes. Simmer till you get the right consistency. The finished sauce gets the amazing depth of flavor  from wine and mushrooms. If you are making a large batch for freezing I would suggest you do so before adding milk. I saw recipes with meat where they have added milk in the beginning to tenderize meat, which is not necessary for this mushroom recipe. It won’t curdle even if  you add at the end. I served the mushroom bolognese with brown rice spaghetti which was not a very good idea to choose a delicate pasta for this kind of sauce. Although, I cooked the spaghetti al dente, it could not hold up the dense sauce very well but I loved every bite of it.

SPAGHETTI WITH MUSHROOM BOLOGNESE

Slightly modified from Clean Eating magazine (fall 2012)

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

• 454 g cremini mushroom,broken into small pieces
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion. diced
• 1 stalk celery, diced
• 1 carrot, peeled and diced
•  4 cups canned unsalted diced tomatoes with juice
• 1/3 cup low sodium tomato paste
• 1 tsp dried italian seasoning
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/4 cup wine
• 1/2 tsp salt and fresh black pepper
• 1/2 cup unsweetened almond or 2 % milk (optional)
• 10-12 oz gluten free spaghetti
• 3 tbsp chopped fresh parsley plus additional for garnishing
• 1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese

Method:

1. In a food processor, pulse mushrooms until finally chopped (mine actually looked shredded).
2. In a large wide pan, heat oil on medium. Add mushrooms,garlic, onion, celery and carrot and saute stirring occasionally until all liquid evaporates.
3. Add wine and let this  simmer until well reduced down and hardly visible.
4. Add tomatoes, tomato paste, italian seasoning, nutmeg,salt and black pepper, and leave this to cook down and reduce for  15 minutes until the sauce thickens.
5. Stir in milk gradually, stirring  and cooking for a minute. Remove from heat.
6. Mean while cook pasta al dente according to package directions. Drain and return to the pot.
7. Add mushroom bolognese and parsley.
8. Toss to coat, Garnish with  cheese and parsley.

Note: . Choose a more firmer texture (10oz) pasta for this sauce. If  using brown rice spaghetti take12 oz and cook 1 minute less than the time  written on package.

Linked to Meatless Mondays.