Recipe: Beluga Bolognese

[nerakrose]

This recipe comes from this Danish foodblogger. It's vegetarian and can very easily be made vegan, and is delicious.

My housemate is Italian so I have been subjected to the "Spaghetti Bolognese IS NOT a real thing!" rant very often, but I served this for her and asked if it tasted like something from Italy, and she said yes, and that she was going to cook it for her vegan friends in Italy. So quality stamp of approval, I guess?

Serves about 6, can be frozen.
1 large onion
lots of olive oil (3 table spoons or so)
1 finely grated carrot
3 large cloves garlic
half a teaspoon chili flakes (optional)
1 tablespoon fresh thyme, chopped (or 1tsp dried)
a good lump of butter or vegan butter alternative
2 tbsp tomato puree (the thick concentrated kind)
1,5dl red wine
0,5dl cream or whole milk (optional)
400g passata (or a tin of chopped tomatoes)
2 bay leaves
1 vegetable stock cube or concentrated vegetable stock*
2dl water
130g beluga lentils (about 1,5dl)

* I believe she means those little tubs of gelatinous stock that Knorr makes. Fond 'du chef' I think they're called? Idk.

Notes

I used red lentils because it's what I had (beluga/black lentils turned out to be very expensive...) and it turned out fine. A bit mushier than in the photo on the website, but it tasted absolutely wonderful.

I served this with gluten-free spaghetti but I imagine it would also be good with 'vegetable spaghetti' - a mix I like is made from red beets, swedes and carrots, though I imagine zucchini spaghetti would be good for this too, or whatever your favourite vegetable spaghetti is. (I admit to being lazy and just buying bags of the stuff already sliced into spaghetti shapes from the supermarket, so just get whatever they have is reduced that day.) I've never had spaghetti squash but I can't see why that wouldn't be a good option as well.

The author of this recipe notes that when making vegetarian/vegan alternatives of meat based dishes, it's important to remember to use lots of fat (like olive oil or butter) since it gives a lot of flavour. The cream/milk is optional and can be left out or substituted with soy milk or other vegetarian/vegan alternative. The longer you let this simmer, the better it will be (classic Italian ragú is let simmer for *hours* - my Italian friends have made me ragú that simmered for six hours, and I swear I had a religious experience), so if you have the time just let it simmer for as long as you like. Otherwise the cooking time for this recipe is 45-70 minutes.

Directions:

Chop the onion finely and sautee at low heat with lots of olive oil for about 5-10 minutes.

Crush the garlic and chop finely. Add to the pot along with the shredded carrot, chili flakes, thyme, and a good lump of butter (or alternative) and sautee for another few minutes. Move the vegetables aside and sautee the tomato puree well.

Add red wine and bring to the boil to let the alcohol evaporate. Add cream or milk (optional), passata, bay leaves, the stock cube/stock concentrate, and water.

Let the sauce simmer on low heat for 10-30 minutes with the lid on. The longer the better!

Rinse the lentils and add to the sauce. Let simmer for about 20-25 minutes. Add more water during cooking if needed.

Add salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste, and add sugar, chili, good vinegar, and/or more butter/olive oil if you feel the sauce needs it.

Serve with spaghetti, lots of parmesan, freshly ground pepper, and fresh parsley.