This week on Hive Top Chef we have the topic of Sauce. I have made a vegan version of a traditional sauce, which is a rich meat sauce in a tomato base.
Bolognese sauce is traditionally made with beef or pork. Turning this into a plant based version makes it so that calling it a Bolognese sauce may be frowned upon. I have tried to replicate it as best as I could and I am quite satisfied if I do say so myself.
Walnuts are a common addition to the plant based version of Bolognese. Often mushrooms are used but this time I chose brown lentils. The combination of the lentils and walnuts give a texture similar to ground beef or pork.
The walnuts were ground coarsely leaving some grainy texture. I used a mortar and pestle for most of it. I also used a mini chopper as well.
The lentils were precooked to a tender but not too soft stage. It should have a bite to it, since it will cook further in the sauce. It also needs to have a slightly chewy texture without being at all hard.
Drain and set aside.
Plant based Bolognese sauce
2 cups tomatoes
1/4 cup tomato puree
2 cups brown lentils
1 cup walnuts
2 cups vegetable broth
1 cup wine
1 chopped onion
4 or 5 cloves garlic
1 stock celery
1 carrot
Chopped fresh basil
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon nutmeg
Salt and pepper to taste
Brown the onions, then garlic, celery and carrots which are all diced. Add spices and fresh basil.
Add the lentils and walnuts. Saute for a while stirring gently.
Add tomato puree, tomatoes then the liquids. For the broth I quickly made a small batch with onion, garlic, celery, carrot, bay leaf, peppercorn and a dash of dark soy sauce. This was a darker broth to resemble a beef broth.
Simmer the sauce for at least half an hour stirring occasionally. I left it uncovered to evaporate and concentrate the flavors.
The pasta I used was organic semolina wheat in a shape called Sedani. To me it looks like rigatoni but this is how complex the variety of pasta shapes can be.
The sauce was not too tart but I added a spoonful of agave to the sauce at the end just to balance it out a little.
I quickly whipped up a vegan parmesan which to me is convenient if you have almond flour on hand. If you don't then you can ground almonds or cashews. I added a very generous amount of nutritional yeast to a cup of almond flour which gives a cheesy like flavor and smell. I also added a pinch of citric acid and a nice amount of salt. If you can get citric acid you don't need much. A little goes a long way. It needs to be tasted and add as you go.
Of course if you are not eating plant based you can just use real cheese.
This was quite a feast on a day off. I served it with garlic bread that was homemade the other day. I have always in the past had garlic bread on the side of a pasta dish when in an Italian restaurant.
Needless to say we didn't need to eat all of this. But we did and we loved every moment of it.
Have a great day and thanks for dropping by.
