Vegetarian bolognese

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp olive oil or another cooking oil
• 1 medium onion finely chopped
• 2 carrots very finely chopped
• 2 celery sticks very finely chopped
• 1 garlic clove crushed
• 350g frozen vegetarian mince
• 1 bay leaf
• 500ml passata
• 1 vegetable stock cube
• 100ml milk
• small bunch basil chopped
• 600g cooked spaghetti or other pasta shape (about 250g dried)
• vegetarian hard cheese to serve, optional

Instructions

1. Heat the oil in a saucepan and gently fry the onion, carrots and celery until the onion is starting to soften. Stir in the garlic and the vegetarian mince (there’s no need to defrost it) and fry for a couple of mins. Add the bay leaf, passata, vegetable stock cube and 200ml water, then bring everything to the boil.
2. Turn down the heat and simmer for 30 mins or until all the pieces of veg are tender and disappearing into the tomato sauce. Add the milk, then cover with a lid and cook for 10 mins. Season to taste. If the sauce is a bit thin, keep bubbling until it thickens. Stir through the basil. Serve with the spaghetti and grate the cheese over the top, if you like. Can be frozen into portions and reheated.