Recipe for "Zen" Spaghetti Sauce

I am told real Italians don't put tofu in their spaghetti. Well, I like to challenge established convention.

I've been noodling over a zen (vegan) spaghetti sauce for about a week now. That's the way it works for me. I'll have a thought about a new recipe, and then I need to try it out. Well about a week ago, I made my signature Zen tacos, and it occurred to me: why not a pasta sauce?

Let me tell you a bit of the background on zen tacos first though. About five years ago, I radically changed the way I eat. There were many reasons for this. The primary was for health. I hadn't been feeling 100%, and I needed to make changes to restore my health and well-being. So I turned to food. At the time, I was pretty much a "meat and potatoes" kind of guy. But it wasn't working for me. Not physically. And not mentally. So I started to experiment. One of the changes I made was to move meat to the back seat. I didn't go strictly vegan, but I did make vegetables the feature course of almost every meal, if I used meat, it complimented the veggie course rather than dominate it, and I did start experimenting with vegan cuisine with vegan days where I ate only vegetable. But I didn't want to eat raw carrots my whole life. I had a basic question: could I recreate some of my "comfort foods" without using any animal-based ingredients at all?

I tried many different combinations of veggies to simulate the dishes I love best. Being from California, I love Mexican. And I love tacos. An all vegan taco filling (no, not refried beans!) was one of my better creations.

Last week, while I was watching the taco "meat" simmer in the pan, something in my mind said pasta! Now pasta was part of the food changes I made 5 years ago, in that I rarely eat it now. I love it, I just have to avoid it. But as a treat once in a while, it is fine.

Here is what you need (Remember, I don't measure, so these measurements are all approximate, go with your feelings):

Ingredients:

1lb tofu, extra firm, shredded (see below)

3-4 cups crimini mushrooms, shredded (see below)

2 cups carrots, grated (mine came from the garden, yum!)

1-2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

Tomato paste (3-4 small cans, or make your own, even better!)

2 small onions, chopped (I used one red, one yellow)

Olive oil

Lots of Oregano

Few teaspoons of chopped Rosemary

First, prepare the "meat". You do this by shredding the mushrooms and tofu in a food processor. Put chucks of chopped mushroom and tofu into the process, and use short bursts to shred it into "flakes". Don't over chop, or the tofu will turn into a "mush". You don't want that. You want it in small pieces, that approximate pieces of ground meat. Same with the mushrooms.

Next, grate the carrots. Use the food processor, or use a hand grater. I usually do it by hand. Tonight I used the food processor since it was dirty anyhow. Mix carrots, tofu, and mushrooms together into a bowl. This will be your vegan "meat" and will be browned at the appropriate time just as if it were sausage or ground meat.

Then, put olive oil at the bottom of a large sauce pan. Maybe about 1/4 inch. Next saute the chopped onions. Just until they are translucent. When this is achieved, add the vegan meat to the pan, the chopped garlic, and "brown". It won't really turn color like real meat. The purpose is to try to firm it up a bit, so that the consistency more like the real deal. Do this for maybe ten minutes or so.

Add tomato paste and water. You add enough water so that the mixture is fluid, but don't make soup! Simmer the sauce while stirring. The sauce should flow around the spoon without being too watery. If it isn't fluid enough, add more water. If you overdo it, well, then you're going to have to simmer longer to reduce the water.

Add oregano and rosemary, and stir consistently throughout the sauce.

Now let simmer as long as possible. About 30 minutes or so. The longer the better. But keep stirring, and if the sauce gets too thick, at a touch more water.

Boil the pasta. Drain. Add olive oil or butter (but that's not vegan!) to taste, and then mix in the sauce. I used rigatoni. That's what we always had when I was a growing up. So that's what I used tonight. Zenatoni I call it!

My family always mixed in the sauce before serving. That was just the way it was done. However I put the sauce on top sometimes too. It is a matter of preference / mood. My finicky kids wanted it on the side, in case they didn't like it. But after one bite, my son said "pass more of that sauce!" ... Hey Mikey, he likes it!

What I like about "Zen" sauce and taco meat is that it doesn't stuff you like meat based sauces and fillings. It is satisfying, thick, and "meaty" but doesn't leave you feeling too full all night long. In fact, I find the sauce just as satisfying as a meat-based sauce, and definitely more satisfying and tasty that a simple marinara sauce. The mushroom give a "meaty" flavor and texture, the tofu also adds to texture and visually looks like the fatty part of sausage or ground beef, while the carrots and onions sweeten it up and add body.

Give it a try! I hope you like it as much as we do.