Mushroom Bolognese (And Vegan MoFo in November!)

Hey, soon it’s that time of the year again! The Vegan Month of Food is coming to you in November. And although I thought last year was my last MoFo, turns out it’s not. And here’s a little preview to what we’re gonna do on Seitan Is My Motor.

Vegan MoFo originated in the US as did vegan blogging. In my opinion, MoFo very US-centered but every year lots of international bloggers, especially from Europe, are participating, too. Whenever I took part I always wanted my Vegan Month of Food to be about German cooking. And since the thing I can do best is cakes (or that’s what I like to think) I would concentrate my efforts on cakes. This year, I cannot do that. Baking can be super time consuming and even I, the sugar advocate, can only have so much sugar in a day. And a Vegan MoFo sugar high is too much, even for me.

I am almost working full-time now and I have a family. In the last two or three years I tried to still take part in Vegan MoFo full time and failed. This was mostly because I still did try to take the best photos I could and would write all of my posts in two languages. While working and trying to spend time with my family. And of course that didn’t go so well. So this year I am planning to do a part time MoFo, which means I am going to publish new content every second or third day during the month of November.

Since last year’s MoFo my life has changed a lot. I was a very trial and error kind of year. I wasn’t really sure in which direction I wanted to go, tried a couple of things, failed a few times and often felt really miserable. Now I finally have a job I really like. And it has to do with food, or more specifically with organic and often local food. It also has to do with trying to consume things in a more sustainable way. It’s great I get to think about these things at work now. It’s great I have co-workers I can discuss these things with and it has given me a lot to think about, especially when it comes to veganism and the way I as a vegan consume products. (A topic I have already discussed here.)

So this years theme will be about German cooking again. But in a more general way. I am calling it Warming Winter Meals. I want to focus on colourful local vegetables and mostly local ingredients. Or on stuff that is new to me and I’ve always wanted to try. I am planning to use many ingredients, which are often used in traditional German cooking, too. Most of those ingredients aren’t that spectacular, because you probably use them too: Buckwheat, flax, oats, and kale are examples. But other ingredients may be very new to you like sea buckthorn, yellow wheat flour, or black pearl amaranth. Some of these foods aren’t really a German thing. Rather they are a result of diverse organic farming. (That black amaranth is grown in Austria, for example.) Some of them are trend foods, a result of the super food theme that is going on lately (like aronia berries or tiger nuts). To sum things up: I am trying to develop new recipes with traditional ingredients and traditional recipes with new ingredients.This is going to be fun and I hope you like the idea!

Since MoFo is in November, I want to make my food as colourful as possible. If you have ever been to Germany in November, you will know exactly what I mean. It is the most depressing time of the year ever. It is dark and cold, often rainy and foggy. It’s the time where almost everyone wishes they lived on a sunny island somewhere in Southern Europe. Or at least anywhere where you can see the sun once in a while. But because we cannot have that, we can try our best to make warm and colourful food that will chear us up. And I hope I will have lots of that!

Like this mushroom bolognese I made a while back with local tomatoes. Tomato season is mostly over here now, I admit that. But this dish makes such a great contrast to the terrible grey sky I see when I look out of my window. And it makes me remember and savour all those great summer flavours. This year it seems that November has come very early.

Drucken Pin

Mushroom Bolognese

Zutaten

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 medium sized carrot diced
• 1 rib celery diced
• 1 onion diced
• 1 small red bell pepper diced
• 3 cloves garlic minced
• 1 teaspoon whole coriander seeds
• 120 ml vegetable broth
• 400 g button mushrooms minced in a food processor
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 200 ml dry red wine
• 300 g chopped fresh or canned tomatoes
• 2 teaspoons sweet Hungarian paprika powder
• 1 teaspoon agave nectar or sugar
• 1 teasoon soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon cashew butter
• salt and pepper to taste
• fresh basil or parsley for serving

Anleitungen

• Place olive oil in a large pan and heat the oil over medium heat.
• Add carrot, celery, pepper, onion, garlic and coriander seeds.
• Fry for five minutes.
• Add vegetable broth, mushrooms, tomato paste, wine, tomatoes, paprika, agave nectar, and soy sauce.
• Season with salt and pepper and let simmer for 15 minutes.
• Stir in cashew butter and serve with maccheroni or spaghetti and fresh herbs.

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