Andrea McLean’s Sneaky Vegetable Spag Bol
Servings: 4
This was so delicious we prefer it to the meat version! One of Andrea McLean's kids favourite dishes, and for good reason – it's hearty and packed with flavour!
Equipment
- frying pan
- Saucepan
- Box grater or Food processor
Ingredients
- 1 courgette grated, squeezed to remove moisture
- 2 carrots peeled, grated
- 100 g mushrooms chopped
- 1 onion finely diced
- 3 cloves garlic chopped
- 1 red bell pepper grated
- 1 aubergine diced 1/2 inch pieces
- 125 g puy lentils precooked
- 1 stock cube vegetable or chicken
- 30 ml ketchup
- 15 ml worcestershire sauce
- 1 tbsp dried oregano
- 5 g fresh parsley chopped for garnish
- 45 ml olive oil
- 500 g passata
- 320 g spaghetti
- 100 g cheddar cheese grated, optional
Instructions
Spaghetti
- Cook spaghetti in salted boiling water until al dente – about 10 minutes. Drain and reserve (drizzle little olive oil to stop them sticking).
Sneaky Vegetable Bolognese
- Prep all the vegetables; grating and dicing. Make sure you squeeze the moisture from the grated courgette and grate the red pepper flesh (not the pith inside) over a bowl to catch all the liquid and discard (or finely dice the pepper).
- On the highest heat, fry the mushrooms in a little oil for 3 minutes. Add onions, reduce heat to medium and cook for a further five minutes. Remove everything from the pan.
- Add more oil, fry the aubergine on a high heat for a couple of minutes each side, then remove from the pan.
- Add more oil, fry the carrots and courgette for five minutes, then add the garlic and grated red bell pepper and cook for another minute. Reintroduce the mushrooms/onions, season very generously with salt, pepper and the oregano and crumble in the stock cube.
- Pour in the passata with half the volume of water (1 jar passata + 1/2 jar water) stir in the ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, puy lentils and leave to simmer for at least five minutes or until you are ready to serve.
- Just before serving, fold in the aubergine.
- Serve on Spaghetti, season again, garnish with chopped parsley and add a pinch of chili flakes if desired.
FLEXITARIAN
If you want strictly vegetarian – use plant based parmesan alternative and vegetable stock cube (otherwise a chicken stock cube tends to add a little more flavour)
Nutrition Per Serving
Calories: 748kcal | Carbohydrates: 109g | Protein: 30g | Fat: 22g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Cholesterol: 26mg | Sodium: 573mg | Potassium: 1416mg | Fiber: 21g | Sugar: 20g | Vitamin A: 7187IU | Vitamin C: 71mg | Calcium: 287mg | Iron: 7mg
