P+P recipe XI: Mushroom Bolognese
A friend introduced me to this dish awhile back and I’ve been saving it for cold weather sharing (and kept on saving…and saving…sorry y’all, long-haul C’s a B but more on that at a later date. Food first, always).
It’s pretty self-explanatory: instead of meat you use mushrooms, and the result is a light but filling pasta dish with a lot of room to play — basically my sole requirement when it comes to cooking and everything else in life.
INGREDIENTS:
1 onion, finely chopped
1 carrot, finely chopped
1–2 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced
1 lb mushrooms of your choice, whole or chopped depending on size (feel free to mix; portobello, chanterelle, and porcini are all great)
3–4 tbsp tomato paste
Half a cup red wine
4 tbsp unsalted butter or olive oil
1 lb pasta, also your choice (I recommend tagliatelle if you’re undecided)
Salt + Pepper to taste
Additional herbs & seasonings if desired
Parmesan to finish
DIRECTIONS:
Heat the oil or butter in a pan and lightly cook the onion, carrot, and garlic until soft, about 10 minutes. Add the mushrooms and cook for another 3, then add the tomato paste and vino , continuing to stir (at this point you can add any additional spices or seasonings.) Lower the heat and while the veggies finish cooking prepare your pasta al dente. Drain and stir into the bolognese sauce. Serve with a generous mountain of parmesan.
Serves about 4
There isn’t much history I feel compelled to dive into on bolognese, vegetarian or otherwise, but something I did find kind of cool when I first moved here was the debunked myth that Italian cuisine is meat-heavy. It’s not. While meat is widely available and regularly consumed on the ‘boot, in my experience/observations Italians don’t really overdo it on the day-to-day. Meat was historically precious and thus a special occasion deal a’la Sunday fare or splashing out for the holidays, and it’s not unusual to see at least a few vegetarian options on any given menu. Even my vegan sister was pleasantly surprised when she first visited and we all know how hard vegans are to please (kidding, love ya sis).
