Mushroom & Fennel Ragu

This hearty, mock meat ragu combines earthy oyster mushrooms and sweet fennel in a rich tomato sauce. I chose to use minced beef style seitan for this dish, if you would also like to use this you can find the recipe here. I really liked the combination of flavours in this dish, it went perfectly with penne, but you can use any pasta you like. It would also be ideal served with garlic bread to scoop up and leftover ragu with. You could also eat this in a lasagne, or spoon some into a jacket potato

Serves; Four Cook time; 45 minutes

You’ll need;

One tablespoon of dairy-free butter
One tablespoon of oil
50g celery, finely diced
50g carrot, finely diced
120g fennel, finely diced
Three cloves of garlic, minced
300g oyster mushrooms, diced
350g meat-free mined, as I mentioned above, I used my beef style seitan, but any meat-free mince would work for this
400g tinned tomatoes, blended until smooth
500g carton of passata
One teaspoon of dried basil
One teaspoon of dried oregano
30g dairy-free cheese (optional), grated
Salt and black pepper to taste

Method;

Start by heating the oil and butter in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Once the butter has melted add in the celery, carrot and fennel and fry for ten minutes
Next add in the garlic and stir it through the vegetables. Cook for two or three minutes before adding then add the oyster mushrooms and stir them through the vegetables
Give the mushrooms five minutes to cook and then add the meat-free mince. Stir the mince through the vegetables until everything is well combined. After five minutes add the tinned tomato, passata and the herbs. Season to taste with salt and black pepper
Cover the frying pan and then reduce the heat to low. Leave it to simmer for 15 minutes, stirring every now and then
Finally, and this is optional so you can leave this out if you prefer, add the cheese and stir it through the sauce. Pop the lid back on and give the cheese five minutes or so to melt
After five minutes give it another stir and check that the cheese has melted. Then it’s ready to serve