This ragu is seriously, seriously delicious, packed full of vegetables and extremely straightforward to make – in fact its one of my chuck it all into the pot and pop it in the oven recipes! I’ve never been that convinced with vegetable bolognese in the past but this recipe has completely converted me. It’s also great for using up leftover/sad vegetables in your fridge or for getting kids to try mushrooms without knowing! I generally make a double batch and freeze portions for those days when you have neither the time or energy!

It also makes the BEST vegetarian lasagne when layered up with my cheats white sauce which simply involves blitzing together 500g mascarpone cheese, 200ml whole milk and 100g Parmesan cheese into a smooth sauce — no grating, cooking or stirring!

Vegetable Bolognese

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1-2 carrots, peeled and cut into rough dice
• 4 spring onions, sliced
• 350g mushrooms, sliced
• 6 cherry tomatoes, halved
• 4 garlic cloves, peeled and left whole
• 2 tbsp tomato purée
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 cup red lentils
• 20g dried porcini mushrooms
• 3 tbsp soy sauce
• 750ml tomato passata
• 500ml water or vegetable stock

Preheat your oven to 200°C. Heat the oil in a large ovenproof dish and add the vegetables and garlic. Cook for 2 minutes and then add the remaining ingredients. Bring to the boil and then transfer to the oven. Bake for 20 minutes and then remove and blitz down to a rough purée in a food processor before returning to the pan to cook, covered, for a further 30minutes. Remove and serve immediately or split into portions to freeze.

I hope you enjoy this vegetable bolognese recipe as much as we do!

Lyndsay x

PS Delicious Cauliflower Tikka Masala — oven-baked in 30 minutes!