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Planet Friendly Bolognese

This vegan spag bol has been niftily made, carefully building layers of flavour so that even the most hardened meat eaters won’t feel that they’re missing out. The base begins in the same way, with a really buxom soffrito, but in place of the meat, I’ve used soy mince (Sainsbury’s own frozen is the best I’ve tried) and a combination of fresh and rehydrated dried mushrooms with a smoky tofu chopped into a mince. It’s imperative to use all three as they each add something different. This, along with the umami dense miso, mushroom stock, Marmite and nutritional yeast, gives you an outstandingly ‘meaty’ finish without harming a soul, as well as boosting the nutritional value to a level that a normal spag bol could only dream of. This makes stacks and freezes brilliantly, so it’s a perfect batch cook recipe.

SERVES 15

Preparation time 30 minutes

Cooking time 1 hour 30 minutes

1 x 50g packet dried porcini mushrooms

1 x 50g packet dried shiitake mushrooms

olive oil, for frying

2 large onions, finely chopped

2 carrots, finely chopped

2 celery sticks, finely chopped

2 leeks, finely chopped

1 head of garlic, cloves finely chopped

2 tsp tomato purée

300ml white wine

400ml red wine (or wine of any colour)

2kg fresh tomatoes, blitzed into a purée

120g fresh shiitake mushrooms, roughly chopped

300g portobello mushrooms, roughly chopped

250g chestnut mushrooms, roughly chopped

1 x 500g packet frozen soy mince, defrosted

300g smoked tofu, whizzed in a blender

2 tbsp white miso paste

1 tsp Marmite

1 tbsp nutritional yeast flakes

3 sprigs of rosemary

6 or 7 sprigs of thyme

3 bay leaves

500ml vegetable stock

½ tsp celery salt

½ nutmeg, grated

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

basil leaves, to serve

First rehydrate the dried mushrooms. Empty both packets into a small bowl and cover with 1 litre of boiling water. Place a smaller bowl on top and leave for 20 minutes while you chop up your vegetables. When rehydrated, chop the mushrooms fairly finely to resemble mince, making sure you reserve the water.

Heat a decent slug of olive oil in the largest flameproof casserole you own (I use a deep Le Creuset casserole 30cm wide), then put the onions, carrots, celery and leeks into the pan and sweat them slowly for about 20 minutes, stirring every so often. Add the garlic for the last few minutes to soften. Ramp up the heat and add the tomato purée. You want to cover all the veg in the purée and start to caramelise the edges of the vegetables. This takes about 5–10 minutes.

Pour in the wine and cook for 10 minutes. Add the blitzed tomatoes, lower the heat and let the sauce cook for 15 minutes while you prepare the rest.

In another pan fry the fresh mushrooms, the soy mince and tofu, together with the rehydrated mushrooms. Just as when you cook meat, you want a dark golden caramelisation over the outside of the mushrooms and soy, and to get that you will have to fry in batches. I did it in about 5 or 6 and it takes a bit of time. When each batch is nicely caramelised, transfer to a plate.

Add the caramelised soy, tofu and mushrooms to the tomato sauce, with the miso, Marmite, yeast, herbs, reserved porcini water and vegetable stock and leave to braise with the lid off for 1 hour. Keep stirring and scraping the bottom every so often to prevent the sauce catching.

After an hour it should be rich, well reduced and full of flavour. Season with the salts, pepper and nutmeg and then you’re ready to cook your pasta. I usually cook about 90g pasta per person, and reduce the cooking time by a minute or two. I like to finish the dish in the traditional way by mixing the sauce with the pasta over a medium heat, which completes the cooking of the pasta and binds everything together nicely. I suggest about 2 ladles of sauce per person – be generous! Scatter over basil leaves to serve.