Vegan Bolognese…Plus an excuse to drink wine!

As you know, we recently made a trip to Würzburg, Germany and ate a tons of good vegan food. But what you may not know is that this place is a pretty respectable wine region, known for the cute little decanter-style bottles, called Bocksbeutel. And like any good tourist, I purchased more than one bottle.

I’m a pretty avid wine drinker but also kind of finicky so I got a big bottle of red and instantly I knew it would be served with a hearty pasta dish. And since there was a delicious bottle of Dorfprozeltener (dry) I knew I had to go with a Bolognese. I know what you’re thinking, great another tofu recipe and if that’s it, you’d be wrong.

Instead I opted for a couple giant Portobello cap mushrooms for the hint of earthy, meaty flavor this dish deserves. But you can also use tofu crumbles, other types of mushrooms and even beans if you’re feeling adventurous. Since we are a mushroom lovin’ household, the bellas won out. Now the really great thing about any Bolognese dish is that it is packed with vegetables. I’m sure a few purists will see this and cringe at some of my additions, but hey I had a vitamin-packed meal with carbs so…yeah.

Even though there was celery in my crisper, I totally forgot to add it to this dish, instead I used; onion (2), bell pepper (half green & half red), one diced carrot, four garlic cloves, capers, tomatoes and herbs.

Yes! I totally used fresh tomatoes for this and it was my very first time and totally inspired by my husband’s fresh tomato sauce for pizza, which will probably make an appearance on this blog soon. The fresh tomato-y flavor really added a depth to this dish that I can’t explain to you. It was sweet and tart but not over the top.

Sometimes when it comes to pasta, I like to experiment. I like to find weird shaped noodles that I’ve never heard of just to see how they work and most times…they don’t. I used a fat pasta–paccheri reali–that was tasty and hearty, but not great for this dish. I’d recommend you stick with a long pasta like spaghetti or choose something with some stick to it, like rigatoni.

With all of the ingredients assembled, because one of my constant goals is to be more efficient in the kitchen. Between blogging and writing novels and ghostwriting, I need every free moment I can find.

Now…into the kitchen.

The mushrooms are the first thing into the skillet to cook some of the water out of them and let the edges get nice and crispy to complete that earthy flavor. Then the onions, carrots and peppers along with a pinch of fresh rosemary, stirring for a few minutes.

Don’t forget to add salt and pepper as needed but don’t go overboard because this dish is so packed with flavor that you don’t want to have salty sauce.

Next was the garlic, Worcestershire sauce (this one is vegan which means minus the anchovies) and tomatoes, then a few glugs of wine to get all the sticky bits off the bottom of the pan. Let the tomatoes cook until they soften and the sauce becomes more sauce-y than chunky, and when I was happy with the consistency I added a handful of chopped black olives and a teaspoon or two of capers. Feel free to add more–or less–wine if you want a thinner sauce or if you’re cooking for the underage crowd, substitute a veg only broth for the wine.