Healthy (ish) Bolognese

Your Next Pasta Night

If you’re the kind of person who doesn’t like comfort food that is actually pretty healthy and you don’t appreciate having a freezer stocked with easy, ready-to-eat meals, then you can skip this post. It’s not for you.

I feel like my cooking style could be described as ‘healthy-ish’. I feel best when I know I’ve worked in nutrient-rich vegetables, but not at the expense of flavour. This meat sauce is a prime example. I made a big ol’ batch of this incredible Healthy-ish Bolognese sauce using ground turkey, instead of beef, and a whole lot of finely chopped veggies. Feel free to make a salad on the side, but you don’t have to….you won’t notice you’re eating an entire serving of vegetables! The meat sauce was simmered to perfection and the meal was AMAZING, but the very best part of it all was the leftovers! This recipe makes enough to serve my family at least TWICE! Where is the dancing lady emoji??

You will thank me when you open up your freezer some day in the future to find these delicious leftovers. And there, staring back at you will be a wholesome meal. You are welcome.

OR, you can package it up and give it to a sick neighbour. OR, you can eat bolognese all week long.

All great options. Enjoy this one!

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Note: this makes quite a large amount of sauce. I used my Dutch Oven and it was the perfect size. Make sure you are using a large enough pot.

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Healthy-ish Bolognese

Ingredients:

• 2 medium carrots, washed (no need to peel) and trimmed

• 3 celery stalks, washed and trimmed

• 1 medium yellow onion, peeled

• 4 garlic cloves

• 2 tablespoons butter or olive oil

• 1 tablespoon dried oregano

• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

• 2 pounds ground turkey

• 1 (28-ounce) can tomato puree

• 1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes

• 1 cup cauliflower rice (fresh or frozen)

• Kosher salt

• 1 cup half and half

• Zest of 1 lemon

• 1 pound pasta

• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. Cut 2 medium carrots, 3 celery stalks, and 1 medium yellow onion into 3 or 4 pieces each and throw them in a food processor along with 4 garlic cloves. Pulse until very finely diced. You can dice these all by hand of course, but doing it in the food processor is a DREAM!

2. Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a large, heavy-bottomed pot over medium-high heat. Use your biggest skillet - I had to change 1/2 way through! Add the pulsed vegetables and 1 tablespoon dried oregano, 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes, and 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg and cook, stirring often, for 3 to 4 minutes.

3. Add 2 pounds ground turkey and cook, chopping into tiny crumbles, until cooked through and all moisture has evaporated, 4 to 5 minutes.

4. Stir in 28 ounces tomato puree, 28 ounces diced tomatoes, 1 cup cauliflower rice, 4 teaspoons kosher salt, 1 cup half and half, and the zest of 1 lemon until combined.

5. Bring to a simmer, then reduce the heat to low and cook for 30 minutes to 3 hours. It will be best after 3 hours (the meat will become super tender!), but it will still be absolutely delicious if you only have 30 minutes.

6. As it cooks, stir the sauce every 20 minutes or so. It shouldn’t be rapidly bubbling. If the sauce thickens so much that it’s starting to stick to the pot, simply stir in 1/4 cup water (or stock) at a time and keep cooking. You want the sauce very thick.

7. 20 minutes before you’re ready to eat, boil 1 pound of rigatoni in heavily salted water. Cook until al dente.

8. Scoop 1 cup of pasta cooking water out of the pot and reserve it. Drain the pasta in a colander and return it to the empty pot. Stir 4 cups of the bolognese, 1/2 cup pasta cooking water, and 1/2 cup grated Parmesan into the pasta over medium-low heat. Stir constantly until the pasta is cooked to your liking and the sauce has thickened and is sticking to the pasta. You might need to add another splash of pasta cooking water to get the perfect consistency. Taste before serving — you might want to add more cheese, more salt, more pepper! Do your thing! Make it your own!

Did you try this recipe? How amazing is the nutmeg? So weird, right? But so good! Please share your comments in you make this recipe. I love to hear if you tried it!!