This is just me recording for myself the ingredients and method followed by Alex Sims on his Flavoursims YouTube Channel. I have made many a ragu using different ingredients, including textured soy protein, but this method follows a more “authentic” recipe and uses Linda McCartney vegan burgers (which are also TVP) as the meat source.
Alex’s recipe serves 8-10, and I have tweaked and reduced it to serve 4 and leave a portion for tomorrow! I replaced some of the burger with mushrooms - for added umami.
If you haven’t seen Alex’s channel before, do check out some of his other great recipes. I like his quirky, self-effacing style.
Ingredients
1 large carrots, chopped
2 celery sticks, chopped to same size of carrot
1 clove garlic, finely diced
1 tsp mixed dried herbs (of choice)
200ml red wine
2 Linda McCartney frozen quarter pounders, cut into 1cm cubes
2 tbsp tomato paste
400g tinned chopped tomato
300g mushrooms, finely diced
750ml veg stock
1 OXO meat-free (or 1 tsp Marmite)
300ml oat milk
Pasta of choice
Add a good amount of olive oil to a big sauce pot or Dutch oven over a medium-high heat. Add in the onions, with a good pinch of salt and fry for about 5 minutes until translucent. Add in the garlic and continue frying for another 1 minute, being careful not to let the garlic burn. Now stir in the carrot, celery, dried herbs and some black pepper. Pour in half the wine and bring to the boil.
When the wine has almost completely reduced, add in the cubes of Linda’s burger. Stir in and press down with the wooden spoon to break them up. Fry for a couple of minutes and then pour in the rest of the wine, allowing to reduce for a few more minutes.
Make a well in the middle of the pot and add the tomato paste into the juice at the bottom. Allow to cook at the base for a minute and then stir through the rest of the ingredients. Now add in the chopped tomatoes, diced mushrooms, and 300ml of the stock. I usually stir the OXO/Marmite into the stock, but you could just add it in now instead.
Stir everything together really well and then turn the heat down to medium-low and leave the lid off the pot - we want it to reduce and thicken. Leave to cook for about an hour, checking every so often that it has not dried out too much, stirring in some dashes of stock if needed.
After the first hour, add in the rest of the stock and leave for another hour (or more!). Taste for seasoning now, and add some salt if needed, but be wary of being too heavy with it, especially if there is some salt in the stock. Again, keep an eye on it drying out.
Once it has had its time, and looks thick and delicious, stir in the oat milk. Again, check for seasoning.
Make your pasta following the instructions on the packet then drain, reserving a small jug of the cooking water.
To serve like a Nonna, put a couple of ladles of the sauce at the bottom of a warmed bowl. Add in the pasta and stir to combine. Use the reserved water to thin out the sauce and make it more silky to really coat the pasta well. Serve this pasta into warm bowls, and top with more sauce and your preferred Parmesan (VioLife make a good vegan one!)
The photo above was taken from the day 2 portion. The burger bits had dissolved even more, making an even thicker sauce!