After bragging that I may have made the best ever veggie bolognese on Twitter a few weeks ago, calls for the recipe ensued, so here it is!
I don't miss meat very often. Occasionally I wonder what it might be like to eat a thick, medium-rare charcoal-grilled steak again but those moments are few and far between. I do miss spaghetti bolognese though. Even though my lentil and walnut version got very close to perfection, it still wasn't quite the same. Which, you know, you accept. This is a conscious choice you've made, etc.
Enter, Quorn mince and...weirdly...Chinese cooking wine. I added this because I didn't have any spare red or white wine lurking around anywhere and as my bottle of shao xing was right there (!) I just thought I'd try it as an experiment. It really worked! It gave the sauce a richer fruitier flavour that I've been unable to achieve with other veggie bologneses.
So, if you're a vegetarian who occasionally longs for the richness and unctuousness of a real spaghetti bolognese, try this. I will await your bunches of flowers and various other shows of gratitude :)
Forgetti bolognese
Makes heaps - enough for 5 or 6 hungry people
1 onion, finely chopped
2 sticks celery, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 x 500g bag frozen Quorn vegetarian mince*
2 teaspoons plain flour
1/2 cup Chinese cooking wine (or dry sherry)**
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Freshly grated nutmeg
2 cups vegetable stock or tomato juice
4 ripe tomatoes, chopped
1 x 375g can chopped tomatoes or equal amount of passata (get an organic one with less sugar)
2 tablespoons sundried tomato paste
Fresh thyme and oregano (or dried if you don't have fresh)
Fresh basil, for serving
Saute the onion, celery and garlic in the olive oil in a large saucepan until soft. Add the Quorn mince from frozen and stir until the mince breaks down from large lumps into smaller, grainy ones. Sprinkle in the flour, stir well, then add the Chinese cooking wine, salt, pepper and nutmeg. Increase heat and stir until liquid has evaporated.
Add stock, tomatoes, tomato paste and the thyme and oregano (reserve basil for the end). Reduce the heat and simmer for 1-2 hours, tasting from time to time. Taste for seasoning. Add fresh basil leaves and stir until slightly wilted.
Serve with your favourite pasta and lots of veggie-friendly Parmesan (Sainsbury's and Tesco do a vegetarian Italian hard cheese which tastes very good). You can also use this sauce in a lasagne, which is also divine.
* You can get Quorn in Australia! I've seen it at Coles and Woolies :)
**I bought my bottle of shao xing at Woolworths when I visited Australia a few months ago, so in Oz you should be able to get it pretty much anywhere. In the UK you can get shao xing online, or from a Chinese grocery store or any food store in London's Chinatown.
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On another note, I'm sorry the posts have not been regular on here of late. As I alluded to in my last post, the past few months have been an interesting and revealing time. Non-SLSB projects have needed my attention and energy, but also I'm honouring my need to evolve from this space and just write when I feel I have something worth sharing (this sauce definitely fell into that category!).
I'm definitely heading in a new direction and I'm excited to share it all with you very soon. xx