I was not feeling well yesterday, combination of too many indulgences in wine over the last week and the first cold brought home from school from Andreas. Needless to say, I was not in the mood to be a culinary master this Monday night - BUT I had purchased ingredients for this delicious recipe last week and they needed to be used before they went to waste. So, I put on my fanciest apron to put my self in the the mood and embarked upon a new vegetarian dish (new to my kitchen, Alan had made this for me a while ago, and I had to try it on my own!)....
Rigatoni with Vegetable Bolognase. All I can say, is that I am so glad that I got my butt of the couch and got cooking, because this dish was AMAZING. So much flavor and hearty - if you are a meat eater I promise you won't miss it from this dish.
Rigatoni with Vegetable Bolognese
adapted from Giada De Laurentiis
Ingredients
1 oz dried porcini mushrooms (chop while still dry)
1 1/2 cups HOT water
4 carrots, peeled and chopped
1 onion, peeled and chopped
1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
1/4 cup olive oil
2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme leaves
1 teaspoon chopped fresh oregano leaves
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
5 ounces assorted mushrooms (I used crimini) stemmed and chopped
2 Tablespoons tomato paste
1/2 cup red wine
1/2 cup mascarpone cheese
1 pound rigatoni pasta
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan
Directions
Place the dried mushrooms in a small bowl and cover with 1 1/2 cups very hot water. Set aside and let the mushrooms soften.
Place the carrots, onion, bell pepper, and garlic in a food processor. Pulse the vegetables until finely chopped but still chunky. Place the olive oil in a large, heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chopped vegetables, thyme, oregano, salt, and pepper and cook until tender, about 6 minutes. Strain the porcini mushrooms, reserving the porcini mushroom liquid. Add the porcini mushrooms, fresh mushrooms, and tomato paste and continue cooking, stirring to dissolve the tomato paste, until the mushrooms are softened, about 5 minutes. Add the porcini mushroom liquid and red wine. Bring the liquid to a boil, reduce the heat to low, and let the mixture simmer until the liquid is reduced by half, about 10 minutes. Add mascarpone cheese and stir just until the cheese is incorporated.
Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 8 to 10 minutes. Drain pasta, reserving 1/2 cup of the cooking liquid and add to the vegetable mixture if needed to moisten the sauce. Toss with Parmesan and serve.
And, because my camera died before the finished dish, here is a pic from Giada :-) Cheers!
