My earliest food memory is visiting Italian family friends in Griffith NSW (Aust), where I was born. I don’t know how old I was but I was no older than four. They were cooking spaghetti bolognese and there was a giant wheel of parmesan cheese on the counter and loaves of ciabatta. Outside the kitchen door was a table with a huge pile of bright red tomatoes picked from their own vines. I can still remember the smell of those tomatoes now.
My parents both loved cooking and they learnt a lot about traditional Italian food and cooking from the 8 years our family was in Griffith. Spaghetti bolognese was one of their specialties and a definite family favourite. It was always served with crusty bread and on special occasion (when we were a little older) Mum and Dad would add a splash of red wine into our water so we could get the full Italian experience.
I remember so clearly always being very impatient waiting for the bolognese sauce to be ready. It was always cooked very slowly in our huge cast iron pan so the flavours would fully develop.
I stopped eating red meat about 23 years ago so I then started using chicken mince in my spag bol and no I don’t eat any meat, I have had to improvise even more. I have had several attempts over the past few months and I am finally happy with the results.
As a mince (ground beef) replacement, I use TVP (textured vegetable protein) and the flavours come from lots of basil, red wine and tomatoes. TVP does a fantastic job of pretending to be minced meat and it takes on the flavours that you add to it. For more information about TVP, I have a blog post here: http://www.myveganplate.com/tvp-textured-vegetable-protein/
Like all spag bol, it tastes better the next day. I like to serve it with gluten free spaghetti, vegan Parmesan cheese sprinkled over the top and crusty gluten free bread. Comfort food at its best!
- 1 cup basil leaves
- 6 cloves garlic crushed
- 1 tbs olive oil
- ½ cup olive oil
- 1 tsp capers
- 1 onion finely chopped
- 1 ½ cups TVP (textured vegetable protein)
- 2 tbs fresh oregano finely chopped (or 1tsp dried)
- 2 cans tomatoes
- 1 tbs tomato paste
- 2 tbs sugar
- 1 cup red wine
- 1 cup vegan chicken stock
- sea salt and pepper
- spaghetti
- Make the basil mix first. Add to your food processor: cup of basil, capers, 4 cloves crushed garlic, ½ tsp sea salt and ¼ cup of olive oil. Blitz until well combined. Add the other ¼ cup of olive oil and blitz again.
- Place the TVP in a bowl and add 1 tbs of the basil mix and then pour the stock over the top. Stir through and leave to soak for a few minutes. You will notice the TVP swelling in size as it soaks up most of the stock.
- Pour wine into a small saucepan and put on the heat until it starts to boil then bring back to a slow simmer from just a few minutes to burn off the alcohol. It doesn’t take long.
- Add 1 tbs of olive oil to a heavy based pan. Once the oil has heated, add the onion and garlic and stir until the onion becomes soft and translucent. Keep your heat medium to stop the onion from burning and becoming bitter. Add oregano and tomato paste and mix through. Add tomatoes and stir through. Add sugar, TVP (including any remaining liquid but there won’t be much) and mix. Finally add basil oil mix, red wine and salt and pepper.
- Bring to the boil and then reduce to a slow simmer. Cover with the lid slightly lifted and cook for at least 20 minutes but longer if you want the flavours to develop more. There isn’t much in there that needs to cook like traditional bolognese sauce so this is just all about developing flavours.
- When you are ready to eat, cook the spaghetti as per the instructions on the box or if you have made your own pasta, cook for a much shorter time. When I am cooking pasta, I like to make the cooking water extremely salty which adds to the flavour once the pasta is drained.
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