Vegan Ballin' Yaze

Served over homemade whole wheat French bread with EZ Cheez sauce and side salad.

I have to give Jill credit for the name of this recipe, a Vegasaurus Original. Bolognese sauce is a super meaty Italian sauce traditionally served with linguini, but I serve it over all pasta types, also bread, eggplant, in sandwiches, etc. For my vegan ballin' yaze, I do make use of a prepackaged meat substitute because I have not been able to make anything myself that behaves quite as accurately as Lightlife hamburger and sausage tubes.

Plate of meat substitute.

The vegan bacon, however, was homemade. I used a seitan bacon (of course) but feel free to substitute your own favorite vegan bacon recipe.

Also, I guess my recipe is not a traditional bolognese (besides the whole not using meat thing) because it makes use of a large can of crushed tomatoes and bolognese is supposed to be a couple tablespoons of tomato paste at best. Whatever. It's delicious.


Ingredients:
-4 Tbs vegan butter
-3 Tbs olive oil
-1 onion, diced small
-1 stalk celery, diced small
-1 large carrot, diced small
-4 cloves garlic, minced or crushed
-1 C chopped vegan bacon
- 1 397g tube of Lightlife Ground Beef style
-½ 397g tube of Lightlife Ground Sausage style
-1 C veggie stock
-1 C dry cooking wine

Oregano fresh from my parents' organic garden.

-1 tsp salt
-½ tsp pepper
-¼ ground sage
-1 Tbs oregano
-½ tsp crushed red pepper
-¼ tsp nutmeg
-1 794g can of crushed tomatoes
-½ C milk (or blended cashews)

How to Make:

1. Heat butter and olive oil in pot or saucepan at Med Lo to Med until frothy.
2. Add onion, celery, carrot, and garlic. Cook until onions are tender and glossy, about 8 minutes.

3. Add the meat in chunks and stir until it begins to firm up. Use a wooden spoon to mash the larger meat chunks into smaller and smaller pieces. Cook this way about 5-10 min, or until meat is firm.

4. Raise heat to Med Hi, add wine and broth. Simmer until mostly evaporated.

5. Add oregano, salt n' peppa, sage, pepper flakes, nutmeg. Stir well and simmer another 20 minutes.
6. Add crushed tomatoes, stir well, and bring to a boil. Drop to a simmer, and simmer covered for at least an hour.

7. Remove cover, add milk or processed cashews, stir, and simmer uncovered 5- 10 minutes. Let cool, and serve or store.