Spaghetti bake

Happy Sunday everyone! I hope you are having a good time and are not too toiled by snow and cold. The weather has been alright here this weekend, a bit cloudy and drizzly, but not too cold now. I've been cooking a lot, but also went for a long walk yesterday.

I think that I have already shared this recipe with you before, or a similar one, but it’s always nice to be nostalgic and keep making the same classics. We sometimes had spaghetti bake as a school dinner, and I do remember it being very comforting. This is why I still sometimes make it at home as a little bit more sophisticated and vegetarian version.

It's basically a vegetarian spaghetti bolognaise baked in the oven under a cheese cover. Now especially that there is a wide selection of different vegan and vegetarian mince “meats”, it's very easy to make such dishes. My current favourite is a pea-based mince, but I used soya mince in this dish.

This kind of bakes are perfect weekend food for me at the moment. Then just a glass of red wine to go with it, a good TV series, and a relaxing evening can start.

Spaghetti bake

Ingredients

250 g vegan soya mince (or any alternative vegan/vegetarian mince)

2 onions

4 garlic cloves

2 carrots

2 tbsp vegetable oil

400 g tomato purée

1 glass red wine

Oregano to taste

Salt to taste

Ground black pepper to taste

Smoked paprika to taste

200 g spaghetti

150 g grated Cheddar

Cherry tomatoes on top (optional)

Method

Chop the onions and garlic finely and cook them in the oil until soft.

Also chop the carrots into small pieces and fry them with the onions.

Add the soya mince to the pan and fry.

Then add the tomato purée, red wine and the seasoning, and let simmer until the flavours have blended nicely.

Season to taste.

Break the spaghetti into about 4 cm long pieces, cook them in salt water, drain and mix into the tomato sauce.

Put the mix into an oven dish, cover it with grated cheese, and bake at 180C for about 30 minutes.

Enjoy with a crusty bread or a side salad.

Your VegHog