Vegetable Bolognese Food

PASTA WITH VEGETABLE "BOLOGNESE"

Steps:

• Soak the mushrooms in 1 cup hot water, 5 minutes. Strain through a paper towel-lined sieve, reserving the liquid. Rinse the mushrooms.
• Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the tortellini and cook as the label directs. Reserve 1 cup cooking water, then drain.
• Meanwhile, pulse the mushrooms, carrots, celery, onion and thyme in a food processor until finely chopped. Heat 4 tablespoons butter in a large Dutch oven or pot over medium-high heat. Add the vegetables, season with salt and pepper and cook, stirring, until they start browning, about 4 minutes. Add the wine and the reserved mushroom liquid; bring to a simmer, scraping up the browned bits. Cook until reduced by half, about 3 minutes.
• Add the tomatoes to the pot and cook, stirring, until the sauce thickens, about 10 minutes. Add the basil, the remaining 2 tablespoons butter and the tortellini. Toss to coat, adding the reserved pasta water as needed to loosen.

RIGATONI WITH VEGETABLE BOLOGNESE

Steps:

• Place the dried mushrooms in a small bowl and cover with 1 1/2 cups very hot water. Set aside and let the mushrooms soften.
• Place the carrots, onion, bell pepper, and garlic in a food processor. Pulse the vegetables until finely chopped but still chunky. Place the olive oil in a large, heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chopped vegetables, thyme, oregano, salt, and pepper and cook until tender, about 6 minutes. Strain the porcini mushrooms, reserving the porcini mushroom liquid. Add the porcini mushrooms, fresh mushrooms, and tomato paste and continue cooking, stirring to dissolve the tomato paste, until the mushrooms are softened, about 5 minutes. Add the porcini mushroom liquid and red wine. Bring the liquid to a boil, reduce the heat to low, and let the mixture simmer until the liquid is reduced by half, about 10 minutes. Add mascarpone cheese and stir just until the cheese is incorporated.
• Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 8 to 10 minutes. Drain pasta, reserving 1/2 cup of the cooking liquid and add to the vegetable mixture. Add some of the reserved pasta cooking liquid, if necessary, to moisten the sauce. Toss with Parmesan and serve.

VEGETARIAN BOLOGNESE

Steps:

• Heat the oil in a saucepan and gently fry the onion, carrots and celery until the onion is starting to soften. Stir in the garlic and the Quorn (there's no need to defrost it) and fry for a couple of mins. Add the bay leaf, passata, vegetable stock cube and 200ml water, then bring everything to the boil.
• Turn down the heat and simmer for 30 mins or until all the pieces of veg are tender and disappearing into the tomato sauce. Add the milk, then cover with a lid and cook for 10 mins. Season to taste. If the sauce is a bit thin, keep bubbling until it thickens. Stir through the basil. Serve with the spaghetti and grate the cheese over the top, if you like. Can be frozen into portions and reheated.

VEGETABLE SPAGHETTI BOLOGNESE

Steps:

• Cut spaghetti squash in half and scoop out seeds. Wrap each half in plastic wrap and microwave on high power until strands of squash separate when flesh is scraped with a fork, about 15 minutes. Set aside.
• Combine beef, beans, garlic, onion, zucchini and mushrooms and cook on high power until meat is no longer pink, about 5 minutes. Break up meat with a fork several times during cooking.
• Add tomatoes, tomato paste and herbs and season to taste. Cover and cook for 10 minutes more on high power.
• With a fork, scrape out spaghetti squash to form strands. Divide squash between 4 plates and top with meat sauce.

VEGETARIAN BOLOGNESE

Steps:

• Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Meanwhile, in a large Dutch oven, melt 2 tablespoons butter with the olive oil over medium-high. When foaming, add the onion, carrots and cauliflower, season with 1 teaspoon salt and a few pepper grinds. Cook, stirring just once or twice, until browned and juicy, 5 to 7 minutes. Add the tomato paste, soy sauce and garlic and cook, stirring and smashing the vegetables, until the tomato paste is a shade darker and sticks to the bottom of the pot, 2 to 3 minutes.
• Add the milk and bay leaf, season with salt and pepper, reduce heat to low, and stir to combine, scraping up browned bits from the pot. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until the milk has thickened slightly and the vegetables are very soft, 15 to 20 minutes. (At first the pan will look dry, then the vegetable liquid will thin the sauce and it will thicken slightly).
• Halfway through cooking the sauce, add the pasta to the boiling water and cook until al dente. Reserve 1 cup pasta water and drain. If the sauce is ready before the pasta, remove sauce from heat and keep covered.
• Remove the bay leaf from the sauce. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Increase heat to medium-high. Add the pasta, 1/2 cup pasta water, the Parmesan and the remaining 1 tablespoon butter. Stir vigorously until the pasta is well coated, adding more pasta water as needed until the sauce is glossy. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and serve with more grated Parmesan on top.