All-The-Veggies Bolognese

A Bolognese-style sauce that uses up all the veggies in the fridge is a big win in our book! Perfect for cold weather and clearing out your entire crisper drawer. It’s by no means an authentic Bolognese but its feels and tastes rich and meaty, whether you include meat or not. I’m a big fan of stashing a big pot in your fridge to ladle onto pasta, polenta, roasted veggies, rice, eggs, or whatever else you like.

This one used up the following items that had been hanging around the kitchen:

• 5 slightly wrinkled tomatoes and a half-opened jar of tomato sauce that’s been sitting in the fridge for….weeks?

• A tub of verging-on-too-old mushrooms

• An entire head of broccoli (I often use cauliflower here as well)

• Two carrots that just needed a few brown spots trimmed off

• An entire head of celery

Huge, right? I can’t think of many more dishes that welcome everything from root veggies to brassicas to any kind of mushroom, plus tomatoes in any form whatsoever. Plus they can be old, wrinkly, shriveled, and generally not-great-looking at all, but as long as they’re not moldy or rotten, you can get some good use out of them in this sauce!

Also, a feeding-small-children tip: If your kids balk at all the stuff in this sauce, just puree it up and they likely won’t be able to tell the difference from a typical pasta sauce. Busting out the food processor is useful anyway to save yourself a lot of chopping!

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All-The-Veggies Bolognese

Author: Food Waste Feast

This meatless Bolognese-type sauce is a rewarding way to fill the kitchen with tantalizing smells AND clear the whole fridge of random vegetables. If you've ever needed a recipe to use up a rutabaga, a cauliflower and a container of shriveled old mushrooms, this sauce is here for you.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 large onion or another allium, diced
• 3 carrots, diced
• About 2 cups chopped mushrooms of your choice (or more, you can really use as many as you like)
• 4 to 6 garlic cloves, chopped
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste or ketchup
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1/2 cup dry red wine
• 3 cups diced vegetables, from broccoli to celery to eggplant
• 4 cups chopped tomatoes (fresh or canned is fine!) or tomato sauce or a combo
• 1 cup stock, milk, or water
• Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper
• 1 to 2 teaspoons sugar (optional)

Instructions

1. Heat the oil in a large heavy-bottomed pot, such as a Dutch oven, over medium-high heat. Add the onion, carrots, and mushrooms and cook, covered, until the mushrooms release their liquid, about 5 minutes. Remove the lid and continue to cook until the vegetables are softened and starting to brown, about 10 minutes. Stir in the garlic, tomato paste, and soy sauce into the vegetables and let cook until the mixture starts to darken and caramelize on the bottom of the pan, 2 to 4 minutes.
2. Add the wine to the pan and use a wooden spoon to scrape up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan and stir them into the vegetables. Let the mixture cook for a minute or two, then add in the remaining vegetables, tomatoes, and stock or water. Season with salt and pepper, reduce the heat to medium-low, and cover. Cook for at least 20 minutes, until all the vegetables are tender, or leave it to simmer on the stove and make your kitchen smell amazing for an hour or more.
3. Taste again and season with more salt and pepper, and possibly a teaspoon of sugar or two, if you feel the sauce could use a bit more sweetness. Store leftovers in an airtight container for up to a week or in the freezer for a few months.