With Veggie Ragu
A staple ragu recipe is so great to have on hand, just like a mince version, you can put it on anything! The key I've found, is in the texture. My food processor is my godsend here but I've done it many a times just chopping or even grating. You can use literally whatever veggies you have, carrots, cauliflower, courgette, mushrooms, pumpkin, capsicum - whatever floats your boat. Cauliflower is a great bulk and good for texture and TRUST ME you cannot taste it/wouldn't know it was there.
Serves 4-6
1 onion
3-5 cloves garlic
1/2 head cauliflower or 400g mushrooms
2 courgettes or carrots
2 tsp Italian herbs
2 Tbsp tomato paste
1/2 cup veggie stock
1 can chopped tomatoes
1 can lentils
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp sweet chilli sauce or honey
Place the onion, garlic and veggies in a food processor and pulse on "chop" mode. Alternatively chop everything as small as possible or even grate it (great for hiding from kiddos).
Heat a little oil in a large fry pan or pot on medium heat and cook veggie mixture for 5-7 minutes, until starting to soften. Add Italian herbs and tomato paste and cook a further 2 minutes.
Add stock, tomatoes and lentils and reduce the temperature to low, cook the mixture down until no liquid remains, 8-10 minutes.
Stir through soy sauce and sweet chilli sauce, then taste for seasoning, add salt and pepper as desired. Now you have the perfect ragu for many uses!
Here I cooked a piece of garlic bread, spread the ragu on top then added some mozzarella cheese and grilled that until melted - DEVINE. Also perfect for spaghetti bolognese or “mince” on toast 😉
