Mushroom Bolognese Pasta

Way back when, like 3 months ago, I considered it one of my life's greatest work to find an awesome bolognese sause. Sadly, I now cook vegan at home and that purpose has been unfulfilled. I did come across this recipe on my cooking light message board (a message board can be considered social networking pre facebook). I love my message board. It literally taught me how to cook and be a foodie. At any rate, I made this recipe last week with good results.



The sauce ends up definately looking pretty meaty. Taste is pretty meaty, texture is a bit off, but not much. I used 1 box of whole wheat pasta. The next night I needed to bring a dish for a dinner at James's school, made a whole nother box and used leftover sauce for that. And on both occations had leftovers for lunch. Andy likes sauce, liked this. James doesn't like sauce, so he gets plain pasta.

Mushroom Bolognese Sauce

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's from Yasmine's Le Sauce blog---a a vegetarian blog that I have really been enjoying:

http://lesauce.typepad.com/le_sauce/...bolognese.html

1 medium white onion, roughly chopped
1 carrot, peeled and roughly chopped
2 celery ribs, peeled and roughly chopped
3 tbs extra virgin olive oil, separated
1 1/4 tsp salt
1 lb crimini mushrooms, trimmed
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 dried red chili, crushed
1 tsp dried marjoram
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tbs tomato paste
1/2 tsp sugar
1/4 c madeira wine
1/2 tsp red wine vinegar
1L tomato puree
Parmesan cheese for garnish (optional)

In a food processor, pulse the onion, carrot and celery together into small pieces. Add 2 tbs of oil to a large pot and heat over medium-high heat. Transfer onion, carrot and celery mixture to the pot. Add 1/4 tsp of salt, stir and sauté for about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, add 1/3 of the mushrooms to the food processor and pulse coarsely. Add another 1/3 of the mushrooms to the chopped mushrooms and pulse again. Add the last 1/3 and pulse until roughly chopped. The first batch will be almost pureed and the last should be mostly large pieces.

Transfer the mushrooms to the pot and add 1/2 tsp of salt and 1/4 tsp of pepper. Stir and sauté for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally until the liquid from the mushrooms evaporates.

Add the remaining tbs of oil, the garlic, chili, marjoram and thyme, and stir. Cook for 3 minutes.

Add the tomato paste and sugar, stir and cook for 2 more minutes.

Add the madeira wine and red wine vinegar and stir. Cook for one minute to allow some of the alcohol in the wine to cook off.

Add the pureed tomatoes and the remaining 1/2 tsp of salt, stir and bring to a boil. Reduce heat slightly and simmer, covered, stirring occasionally, for 15-20 minutes.

To serve, ladle some sauce over cooked linguine or parpadelle and mix to coat the noodles well. Serve pasta onto individual plates and add a little sauce to the top of each. Drizzle with olive oil and/or shaved parmesan, if desired.

Makes 6-8 servings.