Every other Thursday, Gena Hamshaw of the blog Choosing Raw shares satisfying, flavorful recipes that also happen to be vegan.
Today: Gena's vegan lentil bolognese has all the heartiness of the traditionally meat-based dish -- and it even comes with a quick recipe for cashew Parmesan.
Within the pasta kingdom, few dishes deserve the title of “comfort food” more than pasta bolognese. The hearty, slow-simmering sauce transforms a bowl of noodles into a complete meal instantly, without any fuss or multiple pots. Of course, bolognese sauce is traditionally made with beef, veal, or pork, which is part of what accounts for its heartiness. To create a vegan/vegetarian version of this dish -- or a Meatless Monday edition -- one need look no further than the humble lentil.
Lentils are one of my favorite plant-based proteins. They’re cheap, they’re filling, they’re ridiculously healthy, and best of all, they’re versatile. They can be easily substituted for meat in all kinds of recipes, from soups and stews to Sloppy Joes.
More: The lentil love continues.
This recipe features traditional bolognese ingredients -- celery, carrots, olive oil, tomatoes -- but it uses lentils as the base. It’s the sort of meal you can pull together from your pantry at the last moment, which makes it perfect for spur-of-the-moment entertaining or a weeknight supper. As you’ll see, the sauce is bold and flavorful (another bragging point for lentils: they absorb flavor really well). I like to serve it with penne or rigatoni, but I also like to serve the leftovers, warmed, over a bowl of brown rice or quinoa. The recipe will make enough for leftovers, and if you like, you can freeze half and save it for a cool, rainy night.
Serves 6
For the bolognese:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup yellow or white onion, chopped
1 large rib celery, chopped
2 medium-sized carrots, chopped
1 cup button mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup brown or green lentils, rinsed
One 28-ounce can diced or crushed tomatoes
3 tablespoons tomato paste
1/2 cup red wine
3/4 cup water
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary, or 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves or 1 teaspoon dried thyme
2 teaspoons oregano, or 1 teaspoon dried oregano
Dash red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1/3 cup fresh basil leaves, chopped
12 ounces penne or rigatoni pasta (or linguine, if you prefer)
For the cashew Parmesan:
1 cup raw cashews
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon olive oil
See the full recipe (and save and print it) here.
Photos by James Ransom
A New Way to Dinner, co-authored by Food52's founders Amanda Hesser and Merrill Stubbs, is an indispensable playbook for stress-free meal-planning (hint: cook foundational dishes on the weekend and mix and match ‘em through the week).
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Written by: Gena Hamshaw
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12 Comments
All this to say that I have no issue with vegan cuisine at all. But one one thing that really, really bothers me about some vegan recipes, such as this one, is how they disrespect the recipe they are trying to emulate.
Let me say this very clearly: this is not a sauce bolognese. What you have here is lentils in tomato sauce, delicious no doubt, but an entirely different beast altogether.
A bolognese is a traditional Italian dish. It is, ideally, simmered all day. It contains at its heart meat. Boar perhaps, some finely diced smoked bacon, ground shoulder from a tough old cow or even some veal for festive occasions. Red wine, or white wine, depending on the region. The milk vs no milk debate has been going on for centuries.
What a bolognese doesn't contain is lentils. Never has, never will. Taking the name and using it for your own purposes shows a total lack of respect, and a lack of knowledge, for a recipe that goes back centuries, if not millennia.
The same by the way is true for calling a nut butter Parmesan. It takes skill, real skill, to make a good Parmesan skill. Soaking a bunch of nuts doesn't even come close to that skill, also offers none of the taste experience that a good real Parmesan delivers.
As I've said, I love good vegan food. Tuscan chickpea soup with tomatoes and roasted garlic is a winter standby in our house. What I cannot stand is the appropriation of honest recipes, taking their names and identity and plonking them on a weak imitation. It's poor taste. It's annoying. And it does nothing to further the vegan cause.
Thus endeth the gospel of Saint Grump.
As I've said above, I love all food, and eat little meat myself, for both ethical and environmental reasons. There are many, many wonderful vegetarian and vegan recipes out there, so many that misappropriations, which is what is happening here, are really not needed.
A roasted portobello mushroom isn't a steak, will never be a steak, should not try to be a steak even though the favour profile has some similarities. Good vegan food can stand, and should stand, on its own without turning into a mediocre copy of a dish that is a close to the perfect meat stew as we can get.
Parmesan cheese, when we'll made, is a wonderful cheese. Creating it demands craft, knowledge, training and a deep sense of belonging. Soaking nuts and calling the result Parmesan is a slap in the face for those who spent a lifetime perfecting their craft.
I am all for democracy in food. I dislike fussiness. But let's be honest when it comes to the things that nourish us.
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