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Mushroom-Walnut Ragù (Bolognese)

A vegan spin on the all-time favourite pasta dish using a mixture of fried mushrooms and toasted walnuts that perfectly substitute the flavour and texture demands of slow-cooked meat.
Rezept drucken
Vorbereitungszeit 15 Minuten
Zubereitungszeit 3 Stunden 30 Minuten
Portionen: 3
Gericht: Main Course
Küche: Italian, Mediterranean
Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

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Mushroom-Walnut Mince
  • 400 g button-mushrooms
  • 100 g walnuts
Soffrito
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 large white onion
  • 2 large carrots peeled
  • 2 celery sticks
  • 1 tablespoon salt
  • 3 garlic cloves optional, minced
Broth
  • 100 ml red wine see notes 1
  • 400 ml vegetable stock high-quality
  • 400 ml tomato sauce see notes 2
  • 100 ml vegan milk/cooking cream optional
Fresh herbs
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 3 rosemary "sticks" remove the stem
Other
  • 400 g pasta fettuccine
  • Vegan parmesan optional

Kochutensilien

  • 1 food processor

Method
 

Mushroom-Walnut Mince
  1. Soak the walnuts in hot water.
  2. 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
  3. 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
Make the soffrito
  1. 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).
  2. Turn the heat to medium, add olive oil, and sauté the vegetables with some salt until soft (7-8 minutes).
  3. Optional: Add tomato paste and stir until dissolved, add garlic cloves.
  4. Return the mushroom-walnut mixture to the pan and mix well.
Create the broth
  1. Add the red wine, and cook until it almost completely reduces.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
Serving with pasta
  1. Remove the bay leaves.
  2. 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.
  3. Optionally, serve it with vegan parmesan.

Notizen

  1. You can also use white wine or substitute it with a few tablespoons of balsamic vinegar
  2. If you use store-bought, buy a can of high-quality whole, peeled tomatoes.
  3. You can use other herbs like basil or thyme.