The curse of being the best
Whether you are a child, a picky eater, or a gourmet, everybody loves a good bolognese and I don’t think there is a dish that is more popular and known around the world. I mean, I get it. A dish that only requires a few ingredients, that is full of umami, only gets better the longer you cook it, and most importantly, is eaten with pasta…what do you want more.
But this simplicity and popularity come with the curse of countless recipes existing out there, and everybody acting like the pasta police, thinking only they have the right recipe. Even though there is an official recipe from the chamber of commerce in Bologna, there are many variations even within the city, and each family has their own. So feel free to use any of the variations I highlighted red, throughout this post.
The Steps to a good Ragù
Choosing the right meat replacement
One of the most important concepts in a traditional Bolognese is fatty meat being fried and slow-cooked, which provides an incredible depth and umami flavour.
So naturally, we need ingredients that will bring incredible heartiness and that have a similar mouth-feel.
For me, a combination of mushrooms and walnuts is the perfect substitute and here is how to prepare them:
Mushrooms
They will provide the umami-ness and soft texture aspects.
Take some button-mushrooms and shred them in a food processor. If you over-blend, they will not fry properly and rather cook, so make sure to only pulse a few times.
Pan-fry them on high heat, stirring occasionally, and place them aside. Make sure not to overfill the pan, so if necessary, do it in multiple batches.
Walnuts
Even though mushrooms are more important to the dish, walnuts
- provide some crunchy aspects,
- are a good source of fat, which many meat-replacement lack,
- have a nice nutiness.
First, soak them in hot water, drain them, and proceed just like with the mushrooms.
To prevent them from becoming bitter, toast the for only 1-2 minutes before removing them from the pan.
Since we want to reuse the fond in the pan, reuse it for the next step without washing it. Otherwise, you will lose a lot of flavour.
Soffrito
The next step is making a good soffrito to lay a base for flavour development and provide a sweet touch. Cut onions, carrots, and celery very finely so that they “dissolve” in the cooking process.
Simply sauté them in a lot of high-quality olive oil and some salt until soft.
Variations:
- Adding tomato paste for additional umami
- Adding garlic
Creating a powerful broth
First, return the mushroom-walnut mince to the pan and mix well. Our goal is to create a flavourful, rich and herby broth, in which we will cook our mixture in.
- Reduce red wine for acidity and sweetness.
- Add a high-quality stock.
- Add a high-quality tomato sauce. If you don’t have self-made tomato sauce, use a can of whole, peeled ones.
Bring everything to a boil and add some fresh herbs. I decided to use bay leaves and rosemary. Of course, you can use other herbs like basil, or thyme.
Variations include:
- using white wine
- omitting either the vegetable stock or the tomato sauce
- adding milk or cooking cream
The longer, the better
The last, and probably most important thing, is to keep the ragù simmering on low and let the flavours deepen. Reduce the mixture for as long as you want, but I recommend doing it for at least one hours, ideally even more. The goal is to reach a not-too-runny sauce, that will stick to your pasta.
Serving with pasta
This step seems trivial, but choosing the right pasta shape and preparing is important too. Choose wide pasta shapes, too which the sauce will stick too, like tagliatelle, fettuccine, or fusilli.
Cook them until 1-2 minutes before al dente, and finish cooking them in the sauce with some reserved pasta water.
The Recipe
Mushroom-Walnut Ragù (Bolognese)
Zutaten
Kochutensilien
Method
- Soak the walnuts in hot water.
- To a food processor, add the mushrooms and pulse a few times to shred them, but don't over-blend. In a large pan, fry the mushrooms on high heat, stirring occasionally, until they darken in colour. Make sure the pan is not overcrowded, so do that in multiple batches, if necessary. Place the mushrooms into a bowl
- Drain, and blend the mushrooms to a similar size as the mushrooms. Toast them in the pan for 1-2 minutes, before adding them to the mushrooms
- Peel the carrots, remove the onion peel, and cut off the ends of the celery. Cut everything equally sized, into very small pieces (cut into a brunoise).
- Turn the heat to medium, add olive oil, and sauté the vegetables with some salt until soft (7-8 minutes).
- Optional: Add tomato paste and stir until dissolved, add garlic cloves.
- Return the mushroom-walnut mixture to the pan and mix well.
- Add the red wine, and cook until it almost completely reduces.
- Add the vegetable stock, and tomato sauce with some salt and back pepper. Bring everything to a boil, and reduce the heat to low to keep a light simmer.
- Add the Fresh Herbs, and keep simmering uncovered for at least one hour, ideally even longer. 10 minutes before serving, taste to adjust the seasoning, and optionally add the milk or cooking cream.
- Remove the bay leaves.
- Cook the pasta 1-2 minutes less than on package instructions, drain it while keeping some pasta water. Add the sauce to the pasta and finish cooking it in the sauce.
- Optionally, serve it with vegan parmesan.
Notizen
- You can also use white wine or substitute it with a few tablespoons of balsamic vinegar
- If you use store-bought, buy a can of high-quality whole, peeled tomatoes.
- You can use other herbs like basil or thyme.
