A flavour-packed pasta that takes inspiration from Italian meat ragù to deliver
the same warmth and comfort on a plate but completely meat-free.
Smoky Oyster Mushroom & Walnut Ragu
...a delicious recipe by Teo Della Torre...
serves 4 people. takes 45 minutes
Ingredients
2 red onions
2 carrots
2 small celery stems
olive oil
salt and pepper
3 cloves of garlic
1 can peeled plum tomatoes, including their juice (400g)
200g passata di pomodoro
15g fresh basil
15g fresh parsley
25g brown miso paste
600g oyster mushrooms
100g walnuts
2 tbsp white wine
2tbsp smoked water
1tbsp soy sauce
300g NPC x Wildfarmed Conchigilie
5-6 tablespoons of pasta water
Parmesan to serve (use dairy-free parmesan to keep this vegan!)
Method
Start the sauce with a simple soffritto. Dice the onions, carrots, and celery, and cook them in a pot with plenty of olive oil over medium heat. Season with a pinch of sea salt and black pepper, and sweat them for a good 15-20 minutes until soft and just beginning to caramelise.
Mince the garlic cloves, chop the basil and parsley, then add them to the soffritto along with the peeled plum tomatoes, passata, miso paste, and another couple glugs of olive oil.
Mix everything together, making sure to break up the whole tomatoes, then reduce the heat to a low simmer and leave to cook for 30 minutes.
In the meantime, finely dice the oyster mushrooms and cook them in a large pan with a little olive oil and a pinch of sea salt. They should sweat and dry out in the first 10-12 minutes, then keep cooking for another 10 minutes until they brown and crisp up slightly.
Deglaze the pan with white wine, then add the chopped walnuts, smoked water and soy sauce. Let everything cook for another 5 minutes, until you have a smoky, meaty mushroom and walnut mixture.
Add the mushroom-walnut mixture to the tomato sauce, then mix and keep cooking on a low simmer for about 10 minutes.
Boil a large pot of salter water, then cook the Conchiglie til al dente, about 6 minutes. Once cooked, drain, reserving 5-6 tablespoons of pasta water. Add the cooked pasta to the ragù sauce, adding just enough pasta water to loosen the sauce and fully coat the pasta.
Taste for any last-minute seasoning, then serve the pasta topped with freshly grated parmesan. To keep the recipe vegan, use your favourite dairy-free parm. Then dig in!
