Pretend (aka nearly veggie) Bolognaise
In line with the previous resolution re. food and cooking, it's struck me that trying again to LJ my recipes might be a good way of reminding myself what things I can actually cook. So:
Pretend (i.e. without the beef) Bolognaise
This isn't a veggie recipe, as I like the intensity of flavour you get from the bacon and stock. However, I'm sure you could leave those out and it would work perfectly well. I've served this to affirmed meat-eaters and they've not noticed the lack of beef in this. I do eat beef, but just prefer not to have meals that use lots of meat (with associated fat, heaviness, etc), and bolognaise with beef can sometimes be both of these.
1 medium onion, chopped finely
2 fat cloves garlic, ditto
2/3 rashers smoked bacon, chopped into small bits
1x each of red, green peppers, chopped into small chunks
big handful mushrooms, coursely chopped
tin chopped tomatoes
tomato puree, 1 tbs
1x vegetable + 1x beef stock cube
bay leaves x 2
oregano, basil, thyme (small handful of each)
Big grind of black pepper
large handful of dried soya mince
Cook the bacon in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil till crispy. Take it out the pan and put to one side.
Cook the onions & garlic gently till soft & translucent, alongside the herbs & pepper.
Add the peppers, cook for a few mins, then the mushrooms till they are shrunken and cooked.
Add tomato puree and cook in, then the tinned toms. Put the cooked bacon back in the pan.
Boil a kettle and crumble the stock cubes into the empty tomato tin. Fill with boiling water to dissolve the stock, then add stock mix to pan.
Add the bay leaves to the pan, plus the soya mince. Grind more pepper in and stir.
Cook on a highish heat, stirring every so often to get the sticky bits off the bottom of the pan. Cook for ages, about 45 mins or an hour or so, till the sauce goes from red and thin to dark red, rich and sticky.
Serve with spaghetti, parmesan and garlic bread. Yum!
Pretend (i.e. without the beef) Bolognaise
This isn't a veggie recipe, as I like the intensity of flavour you get from the bacon and stock. However, I'm sure you could leave those out and it would work perfectly well. I've served this to affirmed meat-eaters and they've not noticed the lack of beef in this. I do eat beef, but just prefer not to have meals that use lots of meat (with associated fat, heaviness, etc), and bolognaise with beef can sometimes be both of these.
1 medium onion, chopped finely
2 fat cloves garlic, ditto
2/3 rashers smoked bacon, chopped into small bits
1x each of red, green peppers, chopped into small chunks
big handful mushrooms, coursely chopped
tin chopped tomatoes
tomato puree, 1 tbs
1x vegetable + 1x beef stock cube
bay leaves x 2
oregano, basil, thyme (small handful of each)
Big grind of black pepper
large handful of dried soya mince
Cook the bacon in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil till crispy. Take it out the pan and put to one side.
Cook the onions & garlic gently till soft & translucent, alongside the herbs & pepper.
Add the peppers, cook for a few mins, then the mushrooms till they are shrunken and cooked.
Add tomato puree and cook in, then the tinned toms. Put the cooked bacon back in the pan.
Boil a kettle and crumble the stock cubes into the empty tomato tin. Fill with boiling water to dissolve the stock, then add stock mix to pan.
Add the bay leaves to the pan, plus the soya mince. Grind more pepper in and stir.
Cook on a highish heat, stirring every so often to get the sticky bits off the bottom of the pan. Cook for ages, about 45 mins or an hour or so, till the sauce goes from red and thin to dark red, rich and sticky.
Serve with spaghetti, parmesan and garlic bread. Yum!