Pasta Bolognese is one of my favorite comfort foods.

It sticks to your ribs and makes you feel warm and satisfied in a way that almost nothing else can. This is meal is a regular in my home, and now I’ll pass the recipe along to you.

Here’s what you’ll need for a big batch of the sauce (six to eight servings on top of pasta):

• 1 cup Portobello mushrooms, diced
• 1 cup crimini mushrooms, diced
• 1/2 cup red wine
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 cans of chopped tomatoes
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tsp oregano
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

This is my vegan version of the sauce, so the mushrooms are there to replace the meat. Dicing them up into small chunks can mimic the texture of meat, and trust me, they have a meaty flavor all their own that will help carnivores not miss the beef.

I also include cinnamon in the recipe, which might sound weird to some, but it’s a little trick I learned from my boyfriend. It tastes delicious, cuts some of the sweetness of the tomatoes and adds depth of flavor to the sauce. It also helps moderate the blood sugar spike that can come from eating a meal like this with a lot of carbohydrates. Using whole grain pasta with more fiber can also help lessen the impact on blood sugar.

To start the sauce, sizzle the onion and garlic in a pan until they’re fragrant and the onion is beginning to look translucent. Then add the diced mushrooms and oregano to the pan.

Cook until the mushrooms get dark and start to release their moisture, about 2-3 minutes. Now add in the tomatoes and the red wine. Simmer the sauce until it reduces and no longer looks watery, this might take up to 20 minutes. Add the cinnamon and give it a good stir.

Taste the sauce and then add salt and pepper to taste.

Now the sauce is ready to be ladled over pasta. If you can stand to wait, however, this sauce is always more tasty on the second day.

Enjoy!

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Author: Kathryn Muyskens

Editor: Catherine Monkman

Photo: Wikimedia Commons