there are a few elements to this dish other than the lack of meat and dairy that stray from the traditional bolognese: i use garlic and red wine, while bolognese usually has no garlic and white wine. i like garlic too much so that was intentional, but i only had red wine when cooking and its not too drastic of a deviation.
i found this plant based ground sausage at the grocery store for $2.70 for 14 oz!! excited by this price (and on a pasta kick lately) i was inspired to make a bolognese. i would have used plant based ground beef too, but it was like triple the price. i used to make bolognese all the time since lasagna is one of my favorite dishes and its a great pasta sauce. but this is the first time ive made it since going vegan in january of this year. it turned out great!
the plant based sausage i used was 96% lean!! so i had to add my own fat. i used coconut oil in this dish instead of olive oil bc it acts more like animal fat. i cooked 28 oz of vegan sausage in 5 oz coconut oil to bring the “meat” to ~17.5% fat.
ingredients:
- 28 oz (784 g) 96% lean plant based ground sausage
- 9 oz (252 g) coconut oil (5 for the “meat”, 4 for the veggies)
- 225 g onion, finely diced
- 125 g celery, finely diced
- 150 g carrot, finely diced
- 1 bulb garlic, very finely diced
- 250 g wine
- 170 g tomato paste
- 450 g low sodium vegetable broth
- 350 g oat milk
- spices: salt, pepper, thyme, basil, sage, marjoram, oregano, rosemary, cumin, paprika
1 .in a stock pot, heat 5 oz coconut oil on medium heat and add the vegan ground sausage. mash the sausage as it cooks to break it up. when it starts to brown, but before it gets crispy, transfer the sausage to a bowl.
2.heat 4 oz coconut oil on medium heat and add carrots a minute before the onions and celery. add garlic a few minutes after that. then add healthy amounts of thyme, rosemary, sage, oregano, and basil. cook until onions get translucent and soft.
3.add wine and deglaze the pot. then add the sausage and tomato paste, and mix while the wine reduces.
4.add the oat milk and a quarter to a third of the total vegetable broth. bring the heat to low
5.allow to simmer for 4 hours, adding the remainder of the broth throughout. if you run out of broth and the bolognese is drying up before 4 hours, add water
6.once the bolognese has simmered at least 4 hours and is sufficiently concentrated, add salt, pepper, cumin, and paprika to taste
