Amy Longard's Vegan Tempeh Bolognese

Guest Chef and Holistic Nutritionist Amy Longard shares this delicious vegan tempeh bolognese recipe. The zesty, flavourful sauce is served over zucchini noodles and topped with grated Zengarry cashew cheese!

Ingredients:

1 package of tempeh

3 tablespoons, extra virgin olive oil

1 cup, red wine

1 onion, peeled and diced small

1 large carrot, diced small

2 rib celery, diced small

1 teaspoon salt

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 teaspoons dry oregano (if fresh is available use 1 tablespoon)

1 teaspoons dry basil (if fresh is available use 1 tablespoon)

1 jar (680 ml) strained tomatoes ("passata")

Black pepper to taste

1/2 pkg. Fauxmagerie Zengarry Creamy Swiss cashew cheese, frozen & grated

2 medium zucchini, spiralized into noodles

Optional: sweetener such as maple syrup, to taste, if the sauce seems too acidic

Instructions:

1. Grate the tempeh on the large teeth of a box grater or crumble it using your hands. Sauté the tempeh in 2 tablespoons of olive oil until browned. Add a few splashes of water if tempeh starts to stick.

2. Add the remaining olive oil and the onion, carrot and celery, with 1 teaspoon of salt, keep cooking until the vegetables have softened.

3. Add the garlic, oregano and basil, and cook for a few minutes longer (unless you are using fresh oregano and basil then add fresh ingredients in the last 20 minutes of cooking time). Add 1 cup of red wine and simmer until almost dry.

4. Pour in the strained tomatoes and cook covered for 15-20 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and sweetener (if needed). Serve the sauce over zucchini noodles (either raw or lightly warmed in a frying pan) and topped with grated Fauxmagerie Zengarry Creamy Swiss cashew cheese. Enjoy!

Makes 4 - 6 servings

Amy Longard is a registered holistic nutritionist and plant-based chef with formal culinary training from the Natural Gourmet Institute in New York City. As a consultant, speaker, nutritionist and chef she is passionate about making it easy and fun to embrace a plant-based diet. Since founding her company in 2015, she has been nominated for the 2016 and 2018 Faces Magazine Award as Ottawa's Top Nutritionist and the 2017 Danielle Perrault Trailblazer Award for her commitment and involvement in the Canadian holistic nutrition industry. She has appeared on CBC Radio, CBC News, CTV Morning, How Stuff Works, Edible Ottawa, Metro News, and a variety of blogs and podcasts speaking about plant-based health and wellness. She works throughout Canada and abroad as a chef and speaker. Please see www.amylongard.com for more information.