Chestnut Spag Bol - vegan

The Bolognese Sauce is absolutely tasty. The vegan Parmesan was gross and inedible. I used good quality Pecorino later. Sorry Vegans, come up with something tastier for a cheese lover like me.

It is Good Friday today and a holiday here in Germany. Traditional no meat is eaten on this day. Fish or vegetarian dishes are mostly served.

I went for a vegan option of Spaghetti Bolognese. Not to eat vegan, but to use some chestnuts sitting in my store cupboard since fall.

I found the original recipe in an Alnatura magazine issue. Alnatura is one of the Hot Shots of organic products here in Germany. Their headquarter is just about 600 m down the road from where I live. They built new there and have a public vegetarian restaurant on site. But I haven' t been there yet.
Reading the recipe I was on one side intrigued, but wondered about the bland seasoning. I was right and I adjusted the seasoning.

Recipe for 4:
200 g precooked chestnuts
500 ml chunky tomato sauce
1 spring onion
3 cloves of garlic
500 g large white mushrooms
3 tbsp olive oil
4 tbsp tomato paste
4 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp brown sugar
2 tsp smoked paprika salt
2 tsp black pepper
3 tbsp parsley
1 tsp Pul Biber or chili powder
320 g Semolina pasta
Vegan Cheese or Pecorino

Peel and chop onion and garlic, halve the mushrooms and slice them. In a high bowl mix tomato sauce and chestnuts with a stick blender to a coarse paste.

In a large pan heat up the oil and add onions, garlic and mushrooms. Cook for 3 min, add the smoked salt and pepper and cook until they are reduced to half the mass.
Add tomato paste and cook out. Now in with the blended tomato sauce. Cook for 6 min and seadon well. Add vinegar and sugar.
Drain the pasta and a a bit of the pasta water to the sauce. Mix with the pasta and parsley.