Vegan Veggie Pasta Sauce with Seitan on a Bed of Spelt Spaghetti

Yesterday evening, I made this tasty vegan pasta sauce. I served it with semi-wholemeal spelt spaghetti. I added some veggies too, of course! Instead of real mince, I used vegan seitan mince. I love seitan mince over real pork & veal mince anyway. So, this is how I did it:

Yumm! All vegan!
It looks just like the real thing!

Yummm! Don’t you want a big plate full?

Can you guess the ingredients in this lovely red sauce? Read on to find out, if you were right!

Recipe: For 3 persons, each a big part!

Ingredients:

seitan mince : 200 gr

black pepper

Maldon sea salt

2 big red bell peppers ( red paprika ), cleaned, seeds, white bits & top cut out, cut into bigger parts —- They will get into the food processor later!

1 big fennel bulb, or 2 smaller ones, tubes & hard core removed, cut into thicker parts —– they will get into the food processor later!

2 fat cloves of garlic, peeled & chopped

mixed spiced dried chili pepper flakes, in a grinder

Provençal dried herbs : 1 teaspoon

a fruity Extra Virgin Olive Oil

spaghetti seasoning: 1/2 teaspoon

350 gr of semi-wholemeal spelt spaghetti

700 ml of tomato passata

Method:

1. First, put garlic & red bell pepper pieces in your food processor. Blitz until it is very fine, like this:

Take a large cooking pot & heat up on high. Pour 2 big swirls of that fruity evoo in it. When hot, add blitzed red bell pepper garlic mix. Fry for a bit. Lower the heat if you need to. Add 1/2 teaspoon of Maldon sea salt & 5 grins of finely milled black pepper. Then, add 700 ml of tomato passata to the pot. Add 1 teaspoon of dried Provençal herbs & 1/2 teaspoon of spaghetti seasoning. Stir often. Then, I added 20 grins of that mill with mixed dried chili flakes in it. Cook for 5 minutes.

2. Now, place your fennel pieces in your food processor & blitz nearly fine. So, blitz for 3/4. You still need lots of pieces left to see, for the eye. Something like this:

Add to the tomato sauce. Cook for a further 5 minutes or until the fennel pieces are just cooked through. Then, I added an extra 5 grins of that mill with mixed dried chili flakes in it. Your sauce will be a bit spicy in your mouth & lips but not too much, just right to taste the red bell peppers & the fennel too.

Finally, I fried the seitan mince in some olive oil & added sea salt & black pepper. I fried it until it was browned on all sides. Add to the tomato-veggie sauce. Stir well. Taste again. Your sauce must be lipsmacking tasty! Cook your spelt spaghetti according to your packet instructions & drain well.

Serve instantly with a loved one!