Friday, February 10, 2012

VEGETABLE BOLOGNESE

You can easily feed 4 big eaters eating nothing but this for dinner - I'm talking full grown manly men - or 6 to 8 normal people eating other stuff with the main course.

I have made this recipe several times over the years in both the vegetarian and non-vegetarian forms.I have never tried the vegan substitutes, but they should work fine, too. My personal favorite is the non-vegetarian version for its depth of flavor. But make which ever you are in the mood for...no right or wrong here.

This recipe is not originally mine, it started out as one by Giada De Laurentiis, who is one of my favorite chefs for her easy style. I have eliminated some things, and changed or added others, but the big shout-out goes to her for the foundations of this dish.

You can serve the sauce over any kind of pasta, or rice (brown is great) or  farro or what ever you want. The sauce is good on stuff so put it on stuff. Fear not the sauce!

And, this is great for having the next day. You can just store the sauce in some container in the refridgerator and the following day all you have to do is boil some pasta or some rice, heat the sauce and serve. The flavors just meld together better when stored for a couple of days, so make it ahead if you have a date. Just please don't try to keep it for a week or treat it as a science experiment...use it in a reasonable amount of time.





Gather your ingredients.
1.   2 ounces of tomato paste
2.   1 package of rigatoni pasta
3.   4 carrots or so to equal 1 1/2 cups of shredded carrots
4.   1 bell pepper
5.   1 small sweet onion or a couple of shallots
6.   4 springs of thyme
7.   4 Springs of oregano
8.   4 garlic cloves 
9.   1 pound or so of crimini or baby bella mushrooms
10. 1 ounce of dried porcini mushrooms
11. 1 cup of red wine
12. Parmesan cheese
13. 1 1/2 cups or thereabouts of beef stock or broth 
14. 2 ounces or so of mascarpone cheese
15. 2 tablespoons of olive oil
16. salt
17. pepper







Put the porcini mushrooms in about a cup of hot water to re-hydrate them. 




Shred the carrots.


Shred the onion and the garlic cloves.


Cut the top and bottom off the bell pepper and cut out the inside 


Slice the bell peppers into strips, then cut the strips into little pieces.





Chop the crimimi mushrooms. Chop the thyme and the oreganoChop the porcini



In a pan over medium heat, add olive oilaute the carrots until soft. Then add the onions and bell pepper until they are soft. Then add your garlic.



Add the crimini mushrooms. Cook them until they are soft.  Then add the thyme and oregano. 



Add the tomato paste and stir to dissolve.



Add the porchine mushrooms and the beef stock/broth and the wine. And allow to cook down.


 Then add the mascarpone cheese. Stir to mix in the mascarpone and add in some parmesan.





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