As a new mum, these days Ella Mills is all about meals that won’t be ruined if you turn your back for a moment.
She’s a big fan of recipes like this mushroom and walnut ragu, which “you don’t need to have strict timers on. When you’ve got a crawler trying to go for every electrical socket – that really, really helps,” she adds with a laugh. “Anything that might burn if you don’t have your timer on perfectly for three minutes is a real no-go these days.”
Mushroom and walnut ragu
Equipment
- 2 bowls
- Large, deep frying pan
- Saucepan
Ingredients
- 20 g dried porcini mushrooms
- 250 ml boiling water
- 100 g walnuts
- 1 onion finely diced
- 2 garlic cloves finely diced
- 2 celery stalks finely diced
- olive oil
- 400 g chestnut or button mushrooms thinly sliced
- 1 red pepper deseeded and diced
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp dried rosemary
- 400 g chopped tomatoes
- 1 tbsp tomato purée
- 2 tbsp tamari
- 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 4 portions of pasta (about 80g per person)
- salt
- pepper
- handful of chopped parsley to serve
Method
- Start by soaking the dried mushrooms. Put them into a bowl with the boiling water and leave for 20 minutes. Once soaked, drain well (but keep the liquid), then cut the mushrooms into small pieces.
- While the mushrooms are soaking, chop the walnuts into tiny pieces – they need to look like large breadcrumbs. Place them in a large, deep frying pan over a medium heat and toast for about five minutes, until golden, stirring every now and again. Once toasted, remove from the heat and spoon into a bowl. Place the frying pan back on the heat.
- Add the onion, garlic and celery to the frying pan, along with a drizzle of olive oil and a pinch of salt. Cook for five to 10 minutes, until soft.
- Add the fresh mushrooms and red pepper, with the thyme, oregano and rosemary, and cook for about five minutes, until soft.
- Stir in the chopped tomatoes, tomato purée, tamari and dried mushrooms with their water. Leave to simmer for 10–15 minutes – you want the ragu to be thick and have lost the excess liquid. Stir in the walnuts and nutritional yeast and leave them to cook in the sauce for a final five minutes.
- While the ragu is simmering, cook your pasta in a pan of boiling water, following the instructions on the packet. Drain well then stir into the ragu once both are ready. Serve with a sprinkling of chopped parsley.
Nutrition
Deliciously Ella Quick & Easy: Plant-based Deliciousness by Ella Mills, recipe photography by Nassima Rothacker, is published by Yellow Kite.
Try Deliciously Ella’s spinach and chickpea curry recipe.
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Last update on 2024-04-06 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
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