My vegan mushroom bolognese is a fun spin on the Italian classic. Mushrooms are used for a rich and delicious vegan bolognese that is sure to please the whole family!
I’ve partnered with the TODAY Food Club to bring you this Mushroom Vegan Bolognese recipe as part of their Family Favorites Challenge.
This fabulous challenge takes a look at food and recipes, and how they have been passed down through the generations. So here's a little about how this mushroom bolognese came to be!
Rosa was a lovely Italian lady that lived next door, with her husband, to my grandparents. They had the most amazing vegetable garden which was always overflowing with fabulous fresh vegetables.
When I visited my grandparents, if we were good, we were allowed to go next door to visit Rosa, feed her chickens, and help pick various vegetables for that night's dinner.
Rosa's garden produced so many vegetables that my Grandmother was the lucky recipient of any surplusvegetables, some of them unfamiliar to my grandmother.
So, over the years, Rosa started to teach my Grandmother some of her favorite family recipes, partly to show my grandmother how to use those vegetables.
And this was how my Grandmother started making spaghetti bolognese (known to the Italians as ragu).
My mushroom-packed vegetarian and vegan bolognese sauce recipe is the biggest deviation from the classic. But inmany ways, I think it stays true to this ultimate comfort food.
Replacing the ground meat, traditionally found in spaghetti bolognese are juicy, umami-laden mushrooms for a delicious vegan bolognese sauce.
And they work just as well here, helping the vegetarian bolognese sauce to develop many of the rich, complex flavors of the original that the spaghetti absorbs.
So tell me, in the comments below, what is your family's favorite recipe?
Recipe
Vegan Mushroom Bolognese Recipe
This vegan mushroom bolognese is a fun spin on the Italian classic. Mushrooms are used for a rich and delicious vegan bolognese that is sure to please.
Place a large frying pan over a medium heat and add the olive oil. Add the onion, carrots and celery, season with salt and cook until slightly golden and caramelised.
Next, add the mushrooms. I like to do this in 4 batches, so they all get a chance to cook properly. Once each batch is cooked add more, until all of the mushrooms are cooked. Add the garlic and thyme, and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, or until the garlic is cooked.
Now remove the wild mushrooms from the boiling water, reserving the soaking water, and roughly chop the wild mushrooms. Add to the wild mushrooms along with the tomato paste to the pan and increase the heat to medium-high. Add the red wine, mushroom soaking liquid and soy sauce. Cook until the wine has almost evaporated before adding the tinned tomatoes and season with salt.
Move the frying pan to your smallest burner, cover and reduce the heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes to 1 hour (depending on your patience although the longer it cooks the better the flavour, check and stir occasionally to make sure it isn't catching), or until the sauce is thick and rich. Check and adjust the seasonings as necessary and remove from the heat.
Just before the sauce is ready, bring a large saucepan of water to a boil. Season generously with salt, and add the spaghetti and cook according to the packet directions. Drain, reserving ¼ cup of the pasta cooking water and return to the saucepan and top with the mushroom bolognese and cooking water. Toss to combine and divide between 4 bowls to serve. Top with grated parmesan or nutritional yeast if you are vegan.
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This post was originally sponsored by the TODAY food club courtesy of Blogger Babes. It has since been updated.
Meat Substitute - I've been using soya protein for this recipe. But you can make it with other meat substitutions such as tofu, mushroom or lentils. Check out my lentil bolognese recipe here. Herbs - If you don't have the same herbs I've been using, add some mixed or Italian seasonings to the sauce.
Just like my Vegan Caramelized Onion Pasta and Italian White Bean and Pasta Stew, this healthy vegan bolognese requires a short list of ingredients but yields big, gourmet flavors. A mix of red lentils and walnuts add a rich body while tomato paste and canned tomatoes load it with umami, just like the Italian classic.
Milk is a magical ingredient when it comes to bolognese. First, the lactic acid and calcium in milk help to tenderize the meat. More than that, though, milk balances the wine and tomato, creates a creamier texture and adds richness (similar to how butter or yogurt add more richness and flavor to dishes).
Spaghetti sauce often uses canned tomatoes as opposed to fresh ones, so the taste isn't quite as bright and fresh as bolognese, which makes use of chopped up fresh vegetables rather than sauces from a jar or tin.
Just add seasoning and the flavour will be completely different from what you're used to. You can add various herbs, too. Try a teaspoon of dried Italian mixed herbs (added at the start) or a tablespoon of fresh, chopped oregano (added towards the end) in the meat sauce.
The Italians aren't complaining because garlic ruins the taste, but because when the sauce has garlic in it, it's not really a Bolognese any more, just as a Tarte Tatin with chocolate and pineapple isn't really a Tarte Tatin any more.
Q1: What is the distinction between traditional and American Bolognese? A1: While some of the ingredients in bolognese are similar to those in American-style spaghetti meat sauce, authentic bolognese is thicker, has milk added (which is delicious), and uses far less tomato.
Why add carrots to a Bolognese sauce? Carrots along with celery and onion are part of the soffrito that helps season the sauce. The natural sweetness of the carrots helps build the complex flavor profile associated with a bolognese sauce.
Leeks are a great alternative if you like the texture celery brings but aren't a fan of the flavor. For this swap, use one large leek per two stalks of celery in a recipe. Reduce the onion by half to account for the added flavor from the leeks.
Plant- and fungus-based substitutes are frequently made with soy (e.g. tofu, tempeh, and textured vegetable protein), but may also be made from wheat gluten as in seitan, pea protein as in the Beyond Burger, or mycoprotein as in Quorn.
Even though both are considered meat sauces and are thusly chunky, ragù is more like a thick tomato sauce with recognizable bits of ground beef within it.Bolognese, though, is creamier and thicker because it is made with milk. It is not considered to be a tomato sauce.
The Classic Italian Ragu Bolognese sauce following the essential rules of the regional Bologna meal. With a touch of extra richness and flavour, no sugar.
Butter and Whole Milk – Instead of 1 cup of heavy cream, melt ¼ cup unsalted butter and slowly whisk in ¾ cup whole milk (or half-and-half). The fat in the butter mimics the fat in heavy cream, while the milk makes a seamless dairy substitute.
Why does food taste better the next day? Food develops new flavour molecules, and for us, that means it tastes better. According to the study, proteins may further breakdown when the leftovers are reheated, producing new flavours which wouldn't have been there when the food was freshly cooked.
The ragú from the city of Bologna is usually made a combination of pork and beef (and sometimes veal) and often contains cured pork, such as pancetta, to help season it. The meats are cooked in a heavy pot with softly cooked carrots, celery, and onions. There is a hint of warm spice from freshly grated nutmeg.
Bolognese sauce is a ragù, or meat based, sauce that typically contains ground meat, a soffritto of carrots, celery, and onions, tomatoes or tomato paste, white wine, and milk. There is no bologna in the sauce, but, like the meat, its name is associated with the Italian city of Bologna.
If you are missing an umami note, it's possible you are missing a very common ingredient in bolognese - chicken livers. These give a meaty, almost sweet flavour. Soak them in water for a few minutes, then finely chop or pulse in a food processor. I use minced (ground) pork, beef and chicken livers.
Unlike standard meat sauces, which heavily rely on tomatoes, Bolognese sauce achieves its depth of flavor and richness through the addition of pancetta, lots of veggies, broth, wine, and a touch of milk.
Bolognese doesn't typically have nutmeg in it, but I think it adds a warmth that's especially comforting in the winter months. If you're not so sure on using it (it is just a teeny-tiny bit though), then feel free to omit.
Bolognese is a great disguise for whatever you have on hand – think grated fresh beetroot (yes!), finely chopped mushrooms, eggplant, leek, finely diced capsicum, grated pumpkin or sweet potato. Even finely chopped spinach can be added.
beef stock/broth instead of stock cubes – to add extra flavour into the sauce and make it watery at the start so we can “boil” the pasta. In classic Bolognese, we use stock cubes and add no water (unless doing a slow cook).
Your spaghetti sauce may taste bland due to insufficient seasoning. Try adding more salt, herbs (like basil, oregano, or thyme), and other flavor enhancers like garlic, onion, or red pepper flakes. Also, a dash of sugar can balance flavors and bring out the natural sweetness of tomatoes.
If you want to make a vegetarian version of this hidden vegetable pasta sauce, I suggest mincing an 8oz. container of mushrooms and sautéing them with the onions and garlic. The minced texture will mimic the ground meat and mushrooms have that umami flavor that is similar to ground meat.
Like beef broth, chicken broth is a kitchen staple and makes a good substitute if you are all out of the meaty broth. This savory, salty liquid has a milder flavor than beef broth but is a good one-to-one replacement. Chicken broth also has a similar nutrition profile to beef broth, low in calories and high in sodium.
No, Bolognese is a meat sauce by definition. There are lots of similar sauces that don't include meat, though, like Marinara. If you Google “vegetarian Bolognese” there are some recipes for **similar** sauces without meat, but technically it's not Bolognese if it doesn't have meat in it.
(Sprinkling a handful of finely chopped Italian parsley before serving makes it taste fresher and less meaty as well as injecting some welcome colour to the dish.) The original bolognese recipes left out tomatoes altogether because they hadn't been discovered back then (by the Europeans).
Introduction: My name is Carlyn Walter, I am a lively, glamorous, healthy, clean, powerful, calm, combative person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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