Zucchini Bolognese – Delightfully Vegetarian

If you’re one of those people who eats so fast that you barely realize you’ve eaten, raise your hand. If you’re one of those people who swallows your food before you’ve chewed properly, raise your other hand. If you have both hands up, then you probably know the ills of indigestion. My hands are up there with yours, and I’m longing to lower them, forever. Apparently, one of the secrets to good digestive health is to eat slowly and to chew well, very well, for much longer than you’d imagine.

When I heard Abigail Nagorski of Farmer’s Table praise proper chewing habits to aid in bean digestion, I knew that the time had come to turn over a new leaf.

This is Abigail’s Zucchini Bolognese recipe that elicited heaps of praise and copious amounts of chewing in our demo cooking class and at my dinner table. If I didn’t tell you that the Bolognese sauce is vegetarian, you’d never know. The zucchini noodles, however, have a delightful al dente chewiness that you will not confuse with regular pasta.

Zucchini Bolognese

• 1 15 oz can cannellini beans, or other beans, rinsed, drained, divided
• 1 1/2 c roughly chopped mushrooms
• 2 T olive oil
• 1 small onion, diced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 c dry white wine
• 1 14 oz can diced tomatoes, or 2 cups fresh, pureed
• 1/4 c each chopped parsley, basil, divided
• 2 zucchini spiralized into noodles, or peeled into noodles with a vegetable peeler
• sea salt
• pinch of red pepper flakes
• 1/2 c thinly sliced basil
• Parmesan cheese or nutritional yeast to garnish

Using the back of a fork, mash 1/2 cup of beans in a small bowl.

Heat oil in a medium-sized pot over medium-low heat. Add onion, salt and chili flakes. Sauté, stirring occasionally until softened, about 5-7 minutes. Add mushrooms and cook until they start to release liquid. Add garlic and cook, stirring for 30 seconds. Add wine and increase heat to high, boiling until most of the liquid evaporates, about 4 minutes. Add tomatoes and their juices, 2 tablespoons each of chopped parsley and basil, the mashed and the whole beans. Simmer and cook, stirring occasionally until thickened, about 6 minutes. Either stir in zucchini noodles or divide noodles and sauce into 4 plates. Garnish with remaining parsley, basil and Parmesan cheese.