Hearty mushroom bolognese

Hey girlfrans.  What's shakin?  Ready for some Thanksgiving grub next week?  I KNOW I AM!

I've been trying to go a bit more vegetarian the last weeks before the gut bomb that begins next week.  Sometimes a lot of meat can just leave me feeling.... like I really need a salad!  So, in my efforts, I stumbled across this mushroom bolognese recipe that promised to be as hearty as a meat sauce without the meat.  Cha!  Right!  But no really, it definitely lived up to its word and I just had to share it.  I normally tweak recipes a bit, but this was followed to a T, and the ingredients and instructions below are listed exactly as the website lists them.

Sidenote before I begin: You don't actually have to serve this with a cocktail glass of water and a weird piece of bread.  What was I thinking when I styled this shoot!?


Hearty mushroom bolognese:
Serves 8, total time: 1 hour

Ingredients:

1 small onion, coarsely chopped 

1 medium carrot, coarsely chopped  

1 celery rib, coarsely chopped 

1 medium parsnip, chopped  

1/2 small turnip, coarsely chopped 

1 pound king oyster mushrooms  

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil 

Kosher salt  

Ground pepper 

1 ounce dried porcini mushrooms  

1/2 cup dry red wine 

1 small Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese rind, plus 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano  

Pinch of crushed red pepper 

1/4 cup heavy cream  

1 teaspoon minced rosemary 

1 1/2 pounds spaghetti, cooked until al dente and kept warm  

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

Make:

In a food processor, pulse the onion, carrot, celery, parsnip, turnip and king oysters until finely chopped. In a large pot, heat the oil. Add the vegetables, season with salt and pepper and cook over moderate heat until softened, 20 minutes.

In a bowl, cover the porcini with 1 1/2 cups of boiling water; let stand until softened. Drain, reserving 1 cup of the water. Rinse and chop the porcini, add to the vegetables and cook until fragrant, 10 minutes. Add the wine, rind and red pepper; cook until the wine evaporates. Add the reserved porcini water, cover partially and cook over low heat, stirring, until thick, 25 minutes. Add the cream, rosemary and 1/4 cup of grated cheese and simmer for 5 minutes. Discard the rind.

Add the warm pasta, butter and 1 cup of water to the sauce and toss, stirring until the pasta is well-coated. Serve. 


I love this pasta!   One of the best I've made in a while.

Hope you enjoy girlfrans!  And let's raise our martini glass of water and plain bread to next week's ultimate feast!  Yippee!

Trish