Surprise Bolognese

Doesn't it look like really meaty bolognese? The bits that look like fatty mince are roasted cashews and cauliflower.

I came across a recipe on this website: https://www.connoisseurusveg.com/spaghetti-cauliflower-walnut-meat-sauce/ and adapted it to my tastebuds. It is quite unusual and surprising, and full of intense flavours. I am not such a fan of walnuts and used roasted and salted cashews instead. I got rid of most of the salt on the cashews by shaking them on a strainer, however it might be a better idea to get raw cashews and roast them yourself, to avoid all the salt they come with. Shaking them on a strainer worked for me in this case, I do like a lot of flavour and I did not find it too salty....

This recipe feeds approximately 6 adults.

Ingredients for the

Meaty Surprise

cauliflower
roasted and salted cashews, or just roasted cashews
nutritional yeast flakes
gluten-free soya sauce

Other Ingredients

olive oil
white wine
tomato cans

Spices

1/2 tea chili flakes
1 TB fresh grated ginger
2 tea oregano
1/2 tea cayenne pepper
1/2 tea salt (optional, depends if you use salted or unsalted cashews)

Prepare cauliflower

cut up your cauliflower, you need about 500 gr. Cut the florets off the stem and blitz them briefly, do not make them too small....
put the pieces aside and blitz the cashews

Prepare cashews

you need 2 cups or 250 gr cashews
if you use roasted and salted cashews, it is important to get rid of all or most of the salt by pouring the cashews into a strainer and shaking the salt into the sink or bin
blitz the cashews briefly into small pieces, as per photo

Mix

pre-heat your oven to 170 degrees celsius or 340 fahrenheit, on the fan forced setting
use the dough mixing attachment in your food processor, which is me being lazy. We do not want to chop it any more , only mix it. You can mix it in a bowl by hand of course.
ad the cashews and cauliflower to the bowl, add 1/2 cup nutritional yeast flakes. May be start using 1/3 cup to begin with if you are new to nutritional yeast. I love it and use the total amount-
Add 2 TB gluten-free soya sauce and mix until well combined

Spread

spread the mix onto 2 trays lined with baking paper
bake it for 20 minutes, checking after 8-10 minutes and after 5 minutes thereafter. In case your oven does not cook evenly you will have to stir it up a bit
it is done when the cauliflower has softened and the mix has browned nicely
the bottom tray may cook more quickly, watch out for that and remove earlier if necessary

Make the Sauce and Cook

the Pasta

heat up a large pot of water for your pasta, I use gluten-free spaghetti. Depending on what pasta you use start cooking the pasta so that it is cooked at the same time as the sauce is ready
for the sauce add 1 TB olive oil to the pan and fry 1TB fresh, grated ginger and 1/2 tea chilli flakes gently until softened
add 1/2 cup of white wine and simmer until reduced by half
add 2 tea dried oregano
add 1/2 tea cayenne pepper
add 1 tea of pink salt (optional)
add 3 small cans of blitzed, diced tomatos and simmer on low to medium for about 10 minutes
when the cauliflower cashew mix is ready add it to the pan and mix well