8 Veggie Bolganese

• 1 pound ground meat, you choose, pork, beef, turkey, chicken, lamb, whatever your heart desires
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 carrot, diced
• 1 rib o' celery, diced
• 1 cup crimini mushrooms or button, or whatever you like, diced
• 1 eggplant, diced
• 1 small zucchini, diced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 6 Ripe tomatoes, skin removed, chopped or you can use a 28 oz can of good quality Italian tomatoes
• 6 ounces can tomato paste
• 1/2 cup dry wine, I use pinot grigio, but you could use chianti
• 1 tablespoon dried Italian seasoning
• 2 tablespoons each fresh basil and flat leaf parsley
• salt and pepper to taste
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 pound pasta of choice, or anything you choose

1. In a large dutch oven (I use a le creuset) over medium heat brown your meat, you may need a bit of olive oil to start it, especially if it is lean.
2. Drain if necessary, add onion and garlic, cook till onions are translucent about 7 minutes
3. add carrot, celery, eggplant, saute 5 minutes, add zucchini, both tomato products, wine, and Italian seasoning.
4. Simmer for 15 minutes, add a bit of water if it is too thick. Turn heat down to low and cook an additional 20 minutes.
5. , at that point you can blend to get a smooth texture, I use a hand held blender, but you can put have of your sauce in a blender and pulse a few times. That is optional, I do it to make a smooth consistency, but I don't blend the whole mixture, I want some texture.
6. Add the fresh herbs and a bit of salt and pepper. Use sauce to top whatever you like, on more eggplant, or whole wheat pasta, or ravioli, the choice is yours, top with parmesano reggiano or pecorino romano and dig it......you won't ever need to order it out again!

ground meat, onion, carrot, celery, crimini mushrooms, eggplant, zucchini, garlic, tomatoes, tomato paste, dry wine, italian seasoning, fresh basil, salt, olive oil, pasta

Taken from food52.com/recipes/23410-8-veggie-bolganese (may not work)