Pasta Bolognova

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The iconic pasta sauce reimagined (Rcp# 59, with Ingredient Special on Red Lentils).

Ingredients for ‘Pasta Bolognova’

  • 100 g parsley root, cleaned and finely diced
  • 45 – 50 g beetroot, cleaned and cut into very small pieces
  • 50 – 60 g fennel, chopped like an onion (you will need the inner core of a fennel bulb)
  • One peeled half of a very ripe avocado, seedless, squishy on the brown side, but not spoiled (about 50-60 g of very soft avocado flesh)
  • One peeled half of a ripe avocado, seedless, buttery, but still firm to the touch (about 50-60 g of avocado flesh)
  • 150 g red lentils
  • 600 ml homemade broth (see [AnyBroth])
  • 250 ml mixed juices: 200 ml grape juice and 50 ml pomegranate or cranberry juice
  • 3 tablespoons mango puree
  • 3 tablespoons canola oil
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • ¼ teaspoon allspice
  • ¼ teaspoon dried ginger
  • 1 knife tip caraway
  • 1 teaspoon mild salt
  • freshly ground nutmeg
  • freshly ground pepper
  • 15 – 20 freshly chopped basil leaves (or 1 ½ tablespoons frozen basil)
  • 2 teaspoons chopped chives
  • ½ teaspoon dried bear’s garlic or bear’s garlic in oil (= ramps, see Ingredient Special on Bear’s Garlic [Who’s Seen the Bear])

Cooking Instructions for ‘Pasta Bolognova’

  1. Clean the lentils (sort and wash according to package instructions), then heat 500 ml of broth and add the lentils. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium and simmer for 15 minutes. Turn off heat and remove from heat. Set aside with a colander.
  2. Mash the overripe avocado and combine with the remaining broth, ginger, caraway, allspice, nutmeg, salt and pepper in a bowl and set aside. Finely dice the ripe avocado and set aside on a plate. Prepare the juice mixture.
  3. In another pot (2 ½ liters or larger), heat 3 tablespoons of canola oil and add the parsley root, red beet cubes, and chopped fennel. Saute for 5 to 8 minutes, until beginning to brown. Reduce heat to low.
  4. Add the mashed avocado and broth with the spices and stir. Bring to a simmer for a few minutes, then reduce heat and simmer over low heat for 5-8 minutes.
  5. Add the juice mixture, mango puree, diced avocado and pre-cooked lentils and simmer over low heat for another 5-8 minutes or until the lentils have almost completely disintegrated.
  6. Turn off and remove from heat. Add chopped basil, bear’s garlic, olive oil and chives. Leave to rest with the lid on (wooden spoon on the rim to leave an opening) while you prepare the pasta. Spaghetti is a good choice here, but tagliatelle will also work.
  7. Reserve 100-150 ml of the hot cooking water from the pasta and add to the sauce. Stir well. Heat briefly if the pasta is too cold (stir frequently).

Side Notes:

  • I consulted a number of “original” and common recipes for this one. For those who know the trade, you will note that I substituted the following: mincemeat, bacon, butter, celeriac, carrots, onions, tomato pulp, tomatoes, cloves, wine and milk. Of course, you could argue that this changes the whole concept, but I believe that a recipe is not just made up of ingredients. It’s what we love about the dish. A taste that brings back memories and makes you feel good. And that taste can be recreated on a different basis. That’s why I didn’t call it Bolognese, but Bolognova 😉
  • About the grated cheese: My new favorite grated cheese is a newcomer to the refrigerated section of our grocery store. It’s made from almonds and has everything I want in a good cheese. Fortunately, more and more people have taken on the challenge of making truly great plant-based cheeses (for the story, see [The Cheese of Change’]). This gives us even more options when it comes to choosing a plant-based or dairy-based cheese for a specific dish or in general. Keep getting ‘cheesy’, everyone!

Please note: For all my recipes (text) on this blog (By MagS, Parsley-Lane Blog) I grant a CC license under the terms of BY-NC-SA 4.0 (Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike). For further explanations, please see the Legal Notice or visit creativecommons.org.