Description
This luxurious, hearty and oh-SO-delicious vegan roasted cauliflower and mushroom bolognese is my meat-free take on the traditional bolognese. If you're looking for a crowd-pleasing main meal to make your vegan and non-vegan loved ones, look no further. Trust me when I tell you, this will become your new favourite comfort meal.
Ingredients
Units
Scale
Pan Roasted Cauliflower
- 1 head of cauliflower (medium)
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- salt + black pepper
- 1/2–1 tsp garlic granules
- 1 tsp chilli powder (optional)
Mushroom Bolognese
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 350 g white closed cup mushrooms
- 2 onions (diced)
- 6 garlic cloves (grated)
- 2 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp chilli flakes (optional)
- salt + black pepper to taste
- 1/2 cup tomato paste/puree
- 1–2 tbsp freshly chopped parsley (plus more to garnish )
- 450 g pasta
Vegan Parmesan
- 1/2 cup walnuts
- 3 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1 tsp garlic salt (or half of each)
Instructions
- Heat 3 tbsp oil in a pan, over medium-high heat, add in the roughly chopped cauliflower (even add in the tiny little bits!) Cover the pan with a lid, cook for around 20 minutes or until charred. Mixing often, and deglazing the pan with a splash of water when needed.
- While the cauliflower cooks, prep the mushrooms. Remove the stalk, and give it a rough chop. In small-ish batches, add into a food processor and pulse until it's finely chopped – the size of a grain is what you're looking for.
- Once the cauliflower is charred, using a wooden spoon break up the cauliflower into little bits. Transfer into a bowl. In the same pan, add 2 tbsp olive oil and mushrooms. Cook mushrooms for 7-9 mins over high heat. The mushrooms are done once the colour darkens and all the excess water has evaporated. *see blog post for visuals*
- Add in the onions, 2tbsp olive oil and cook for 5-6 minutes or until golden. Add in garlic, dried oregano. chilli flakes, salt, black pepper, and cook for a few seconds. Finally, add in the tomato puree and cook for 2-3 minutes, while constantly stirring! Turn the heat down to the lowest temperature while boiling the pasta. Make sure you give it a quick mix every 1-3 minutes.
- Add water into a kettle, pour into a pot. Repeat until you have enough water to cook your pasta in. Add in a generous amount of salt, and boil the pasta for 1 minute less than al dente – read the packaging of the pasta!
- While the pasta boils, make the vegan parmesan by pulsing together walnuts, nutritional yeast and garlic salt. Set aside until needed.
- Turn the heat back up to high on the sauce, add in the almost al dente pasta using a slotted spoon. Add in half of the vegan parmesan, parsley, cauliflower bits and 1 cup of pasta water. Mix together, and add in another 1 cup of pasta water. Cook for 2-3 minutes or until the sauce clings onto the pasta. If you want to make the pasta saucier add in more water – I added 3 cups of pasta water.
- Enjoy warm with a sprinkle of more vegan parmesan (it's a MUST) and freshly chopped parsley. Happy mushroom bolognese making & eating!
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Category: Main Course
- Cuisine: Italian
Nutrition
- Calories: 471