Vegetarian Bolognese

On Saturday I made my bolognese (aka MEAT sauce) I mentioned last week. But since I don't eat meat, I also made a vegetarian version. I totally winged it...and it actually turned out to be quite tasty. Here's what I did:

Jazzy's Veggie "Meat" Sauce

You will need:

• 1 large can (14 ounces or so) chopped or diced tomatoes
• 1 can (6 ounce) tomato paste
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1-2 celery stalks, finely chopped
• 1-2 carrots, finely chopped
• 1 squash or zucchini, roughly chopped into smallish chunks
  
• 1 eggplant, roughly chopped into smallish chunks
• 1 cup of milk
• 1 T butter
• 1.5 cup white wine
• S&P
  
• slow cooker/crock pot

To make:

1. Saute onion, celery and carrot in a skillet with EVOO until softish and fragrant
2. Pour skillet contents into slow cooker
3. Add tomatoes to slow cooker
4. Add eggplant and squash, stir to combine
5. Add milk and white wine and stir
6. Add paste and stir
   
7. Turn cooker on low and allow to heat up
8. Once mixture is warm, stir in the butter and allow to melt throughout
9. Make sure all eggplant pieces are below the surface/submerged in moisture
10. Salt and pepper as desired
11. Cook on low 6-8 hours
12. Season with S&P to taste before serving
    

I cooked mine on low for about 4 hours, increased it to high for a bit and then reduced it again...you can cook it for longer than 8 hours on low and it will probably be ok. If you can stir it once in awhile, that is desirable, but probably not necessary. You can add more liquid if you like yours thinner. I wouldn't add less, as it might burn.

If you don't want to use wine, although the alcohol cooks off, use water, stock or broth instead.

Serve over pasta, preferrably fresh or the al dente variety. My favorite is the lemon flat pasta from Trader Joe's. It adds a tang and tastes much better than dried pasta...and it's cheap. But any will do!

Finally, if you don't like squash, add other veggies instead. You can also add more carrots, celery, etc as desired. Or try adding garlic or fresh herbs. Play with it and make it your own!