Vegan Pasta Bolognaise with Mushrooms and Walnuts

Angela Manners

7 years ago

I have had a fair few vegetarian pasta sauces in my life because I am married to “The Vegetarian”. This is one of the best ones I’ve enjoyed so far. It’s not just vegetarian, it is also vegan and would be perfect to use in a lasagna as a replacement for the meat sauce. When Evita from Agora Products shared Salt Odyssey’s Vegan Pasta Bolognaise recipe with me, I knew it was something we would try at home. As the distributor for Salt Odyssey, quality salts from Greece, Evita had given me samples of their salt for tasting. Along with them came a few recipes and this was the first that we tried in our test kitchen. Thank you so much, Salt Odyssey for allowing us to republish your recipe. Tips and optional notes are our own suggestions.

Vegan Pasta Bolognaise with Mushrooms and Walnuts

Recipe by Executive Chef Kostas Magoulas

Ingredients (serves 4):

1 pack of gluten-free spaghetti
Tip: you can use any pasta of your choice
6 medium tomatoes
Tip: try 800g of diced, tinned or packaged tomatoes or passata instead
450ml of hot water or vegetable broth (homemade if possible)
Salt Odyssey® Fleur de sel
Pepper
1 bunch of parsley
500g small brown mushrooms, cut into small cubes
250g walnuts (grated into small pieces)
Tip: we whizzed our walnuts in the blender until they were coarse
Extra virgin olive oil
1 medium white onion finely chopped
6 cloves of garlic
Cinnamon, nutmeg, cumin, allspice, 1 teaspoon in total
Tip: if you are not a spice fan, reduce the amount of allspice and nutmeg

Method:

If using fresh tomatoes, wash the tomatoes thoroughly, remove the stalks and cut them into four pieces.
Tip: if using diced, tinned or packaged tomatoes or passata, skip to Step 3.
In a small pot (preferably ceramic or non-stick), add 2 tablespoons of olive oil and the tomatoes, cut side down.
Place them on strong heat and allow them to soften (about 10 minutes) so they deepen in flavour.
Add garlic, a pinch of Fleur de sel and about 300ml of broth or water.
Place the lid back on and simmer for 25 minutes or until the sauce has reduced.
Meanwhile, in a separate ceramic or non-stick pan, heat 2 tbs of olive oil.
Add onion and mushrooms, sautéing until soft then add salt and pepper to taste.
After the onions and mushrooms are softened well, add 150 ml of water or broth, walnuts, spices and half the parsley. Once the liquids dry out, you can remove this from the heat and set aside.
Place the tomato sauce in a blender and blend to create a thick sauce then return to the pot.
Mix the onion, mushroom and walnut mixture into the sauce and simmer for 10 minutes until they come together.
In a seperate pot, cook pasta according to instructions. Drain and serve with the sauce on top.
Tip: combine the drained pasta and sauce in a pan and stir together to coat the pasta with sauce.
Garnish with parsley and vegan cheese.