Nothing beats a slow cooked bolognese sauce when it comes to cozy comfort food. Although I have a favorite classic bolognese made with pancetta and meat, we try to have meatless meals at least a few times a week. This prompted me to try and make a meatless version of bolognese, which led to this recipe and is every bit as delicious and comforting as the classic.
This sauce is still hearty with the addition of a surprising ingredient–walnuts. Even if you don’t love walnuts, I would still try this out because it adds a texture that mimics a classic meat sauce.
This sauce can be made completely vegan as written. You can substitute chicken broth if you don’t need it to be vegan/vegetarian. You can use a dairy heavy cream if you prefer. I also like a little freshly grated parmesan on top.
This makes a lot of sauce, but I prefer to make a full recipe and freeze the remainder in portions for later use.
- 1½ cups walnuts
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 4 celery ribs, chopped
- 2 large carrots, peeled and chopped
- 6 cloves garlic
- ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
- 1 (28 ounce) can whole San Marzano tomatoes
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- 3 cups vegetable broth
- 1 cup plant based heavy cream
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- In the bowl of a food processor, pulse walnuts until finely chopped. Remove from food processor. Set aside.
- Add chopped onions, celery, carrots, and garlic cloves to the food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Set aside.
- Heat olive oil in a large sauce pan or dutch oven. Add finely chopped vegetable mix, and cook, stirring, until vegetables are soft and fragrant, about 10 minutes. Add in walnuts, and cook, stirring, about 1-2 minutes until fragrant. Add tomato paste and stir until vegetables are coated. Cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Add San Marzano tomatoes, gently crushing the whole tomatoes with the back of your mixing spoon as you mix them into the vegetables (they will continue to break down as they cook with the sauce). Add nutmeg and vegetable broth, stirring to combine. Reduce heat to a simmer.
- Cook, stirring occasionally, on a low simmer until sauce is thickened and flavorful, about 2-3 hours. Finish the sauce by adding the plant-based heavy cream and stir to combine. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Serve with cooked pasta of choice.
Leave a Reply