Oct 24

Oct 24 mushroom ragu gnocchi

Today we are making a hearty, filling, warming and delicious mushroom ragu served with gnocchi and a good amount of my favorite vegan parmesan, this time in a truffle flavor. Which takes this dish to whole other level. If you ask me, straight up fall in a bowl.

To be honest I’m not the biggest fan of mushrooms but for this ragu you can wake me up any time. It is something about the texture of the mushrooms that puts me off if I have too many, am I the only one? In this ragu their texture becomes more soft and less chewy, so they almost melt in your mouth. The key here is to puts lots of flavor in the sauce and leave it to stew for 40 minutes or even longer.

My favorite mushrooms for this ragu are cremini mushrooms, oyster mushrooms, porcini, black trumpets, chantarelles. But ofcourse feel free to use any mushrooms that you like. I would suggest tho using a few different variaties for extra flavor and textures.

Another key ingredients here is fresh herbs like rosemary, thyme, oregano, bay leaves and sage. They really give flavor to the sauce and mushrooms and give this sauce a good base to layer more flavors on top. When people ask me how to make a hearty and meaty vegan sauce, the one ingredient I always mention is herbs, the more the better.

Some other key ingredients to making a hearty sauce are soy sauce, red wine and a good vegetable stock. They give the sauce the umami it needs so you can fool any person into thinking this stew isn’t vegan ;)

Recipe

This makes enough for 4 people

Ingredients

4 tbs of vegan butter
2 tbs of olive oil
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 large shallots, minced
1kg of mixed mushrooms of choice, cut into equal size pieces
a handful of fresh herbs; thyme, rosemary, sage and bay leaf
4-6 tbs of soy sauce
200 ml of vegan red wine
500 ml of vegetable stock or mushroom stock
500 gr of vegan gnocchi, I used the ones from AH and they are also gluten-free!
Vegan truffle parmesan

How to

Start by melting the butter and olive oil in a sauce pan.
Add the mushrooms once the butter and oil are hot and fry until slightly browned over high heat.
Add the garlic, shallots and fresh herbs.
Fry for another 5 minutes until all the aromatics release their flavors and the mushrooms are browned, this is where all the flavors comes from!
Deglaze the pan with the red wine.
Leave to simmer for a few minutes, this so the alcohol can evaporate, then add the stock and soy sauce.
Place a lid on top and lave to simmer up to 40 minutes, but after a good 15 minutes it’s ready too if you’re short on time.
Keep an eye out on the sauce, if needed add more stock.
Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Cook the gnocchi in salted boiling water until they come floating.
Add the to the sauce and leave them to simmer in the ragu, the gnocchi will thicken up the sauce to perfection!
Serve with a good amount of vegan truffle parmesan.
Buon appetito!