It is packed with flavor, a hearty dish with only a half pound of meat to serve four. The time consuming part of this recipe is the chopping, There are a lot of finely chopped vegetables. But, once the chopping is complete, the dish comes together is less than a half an hour.
Ingredients
2/3 cup boiling water
0.75 ounce dried porcini mushrooms
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1.5 cups finely chopped white onion
3/4 cup finely chopped carrots
3/4 cup finely chopped celery
8 ounces finely chopped baby portobello mushrooms
6 large cloves garlic, minced
8 ounces lean ground sirloin
3 Tablespoon tomato paste
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (depending on how much kick you want)
2 (8 ounce) cans tomato sauce
1/4 cup water
1/3 cup finely chopped toasted walnuts
6 ounces regular or whole grain spaghetti
Shaved Parmesan cheese
Instructions
Finely chop onions, celery and carrots and combine in a bowl. Finely chop baby portobello mushrooms and garlic and place in another bowl. Pour boiling water over the porcini mushrooms in a small bowl. Allow to stand for 15 minutes. Remove porcini with a slotted spoon, reserving the soaking liquid, Finely chop the porcini mushrooms.
Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add oil. Add carrots, celery and onions. Cook, stirring occasionally, for five minutes. Add portobello mushrooms and garlic; cook, stirring occasionally, for 6 minutes. Add ground beef. Cook, stirring frequently, for 3 minutes. Add tomato paste. Stir to combine and cook one minute, stirring constantly. Add porcini mushrooms, oregano, salt, red pepper flakes and tomato sauce. Add porcini soaking liquid and 1/4 cup water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, uncovered for 12 minutes or until thickened, stirring occasionally.
Bring pot of water to boil and cook spaghetti according to manufacturer's instructions. Drain.
Just before serving, add walnuts to the bolognese sauce.
To serve, place spaghetti in bowl and spoon over pasta sauce. Top with shaved parmesan cheese.
NOTE: I received a spiralizer for Christmas and I am using it to incorporate more vegetables in our meals. For this dish, I spiralized a small butternut squash. I added the butternut "noodles" to the boiling spaghetti during the last 4 minutes of cooking. The sauce for this dish is so flavorful that the taste of the butternut squash was not obvious - and I love the taste of butternut squash. But, adding spiralized vegetables to the noodles is a great way to cut carbs and increase veggies.