Eating Light - Mushroom Bolognese

Last night I whipped up some mushroom Bolognese to serve over mutigrain spaghetti. It's quick and easy to prepare and very good. I like the meaty taste the criminis added and the texture/chew was nice as well immulating meat. I adapted the recipe from Vegetarian, a Barnes and Noble book. What I did is in parenthesis. This recipe makes 4 very generous servings.

1 pound mushrooms, (I used half crimini and half white, both from bags that are presliced thickly)
1 tablespoon olive oil ( 1 teaspoon or so EVOO)
1 onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed (I didn't use)
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 14-ounce can chopped tomatoes (I used diced with roasted garlic)
3 tablespoons fresh oregano, chopped (I didn't have so used 2 teaspoons or so of dried Italian seasoning)
1 pound fresh pasta (I used 1 pound dried Barilla Plus multigrain spaghetti)
salt and freshly ground black pepper (only used pepper)
Parmesan for topping


Trim the mushrooms if not presliced, removing stems and cutting them into quarters. Heat the oil in a large pan (I used a skillet). Add chopped onion and garlic if you are using. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes.


Add the mushrooms and cook over high heat for 3 to 4 minutes at least, stirring occasionally. There will be quite a bit of liquid produced. Mine didn't, so I added a splash of red wine I had open.

Mushrooms cooking down.

Add in the tomato paste and diced tomatoes with roasted garlic and 1 tablespoon of the fresh oregano if using. This is where I added the entire amount of dried Italian seasoning. Lower the heat, cover and cook for at least 5 minutes.

Meanwhile boil water (I didn't use salt) for the pasta. Cook the multigrain pasta according to package directions or 11 minutes to my liking.

Season the Bologneses sauce with freshly ground black pepper. Drain the pasta, pour it into a bowl and add the musahroom mixture. Toss to mix well. Serve in individual bowls, topped with grated or chavings of Parmesan and the remaining chopped fresh oregano if using.