Hearty Veggie Bolognese

It's a rainy day and I'm hankering for comfort.  This big pot of Veggie Bolognese smells amazing right now!

Gather:

Olive oil

1 lb lean ground beef

2x 540 ml tins of Almyer Petite Cut Tomatoes (my favorite for just about everything)
Large onion, chopped
6 large cloves of garlic
1 chopped Asian eggplant
Handful cremini mushroom, chopped
Tomato paste
Tablespoon brown sugar
Oregano, chili peppers and salt and pepper to taste
Basil pesto
glug of red wine

Do it:
The secret to this sauce is marrying all those veggies with your ground beef to create a texture that simply resembles a hearty meat sauce.  I cut everything in a fine dice that becomes barely detectable as it cooks down for those that don't want to know there are chunks of mushrooms and eggplant in their bolognese! The flavor is amazing.  You could leave the mushrooms and eggplant out, but you will definitely be missing out.

Brown your ground beef, drain, and set aside.
Drizzle your pot generously with olive oil and saute your chopped onions, garlic, eggplant, and mushrooms. Sweat everything down until quite soft.
Add your browned beef and tomatoes to the pot.
Stir in your seasonings, a large squirt of tomato paste, and a big spoon of basil pesto.  I usually sprinkle in a tablespoon of brown sugar to cut the acidity of the tomatoes and a generous glug of wine as the sauce gets simmering.

Let everything get to know each other in the pot and simmer on your stove all afternoon if you like. Which is exactly what I am doing on this rainy afternoon today.

Spoon over your favorite pasta or spaghetti squash.  Tonight we are trying it with some red lentil noodles I picked up from Herrle's Market.

Tastes even better the next day after flavors have intensified.