Meatless Mushroom Bolognese Sauce

This is another one of those recipes that once I saw it pop up in my Bloglovin' feed, I knew I wanted to make it right away. While I try really, really hard to like hamburger, I just don't. I'll make meals with it and then almost start gagging once I take a few bites. Ha. The only time I truly liked and even craved it was when I was pregnant with my first. And then the craving died completely.

But here we are with the most delicious meatless sauce that is healthy and basically only consists of pureed tomatoes, carrots and mushrooms. And honestly you can't even tell that there isn't any meat by looking at this dish. The mushrooms are magic. I LOVE mushrooms and loved them in this sauce.

What I'm trying to say is, this might be my new favorite food ever!! So much flavor! And you must have some kind of bread to slop up all of the extra sauce because that completes the experience. ;)

And my husband, who is the king of wanting meat for every meal, even said that I could make this again without meat. And that's a big deal my friends.

Meatless Mushroom Bolognese Sauce

Adapted from Annie’s Eats

8 oz. sliced mushrooms

1/2 cup chopped carrots

14 oz. whole peeled tomatoes (I pureed a 28 oz. can and saved the other 14 oz.)

1 1/2 Tbsp. unsalted butter

1/2 tsp. garlic, minced

1/2 tsp. sugar

1 Tbsp. tomato paste 

3/4 cup vegetable broth

1/2 Tbsp. soy sauce

1/4 tsp. kosher salt

1/8 tsp. pepper

2 Tbsp. heavy cream

3/4 lb. fettuccine or linguine, cooked according to package directions

grated parmesan, for serving

1. In a food processor, pulse the mushrooms until the pieces are no larger than ½-inch. (Do this in batches if necessary so that they are evenly chopped.) Transfer to a large bowl. 

2. Place the carrots in the now empty food processor and pulse until finely chopped, 5-7 pulses. Transfer to the bowl with the mushrooms.

3. Add the tomatoes and their juices to the food processor and pulse until pureed. Set aside separate from the rest of the vegetables.

4. Melt the butter in a large pan over medium heat. Add the chopped vegetables. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until they release their liquid, about 5 minutes. Uncover, increase the heat to medium-high and cook until the liquid has evaporated and vegetables begin to brown, 12-15 minutes.

5. Add the garlic and sugar to the pot and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in the tomato paste and cook for 1 minute. Stir in the processed tomatoes, vegetable broth, soy sauce, salt, and pepper and bring the mixture to simmer. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook until the sauce has thickened but is still moist, about 8-10 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the cream.

6. Season to taste with additional salt and pepper. Serve warm with freshly grated Parmesan.