Ground mushroom sauce
Mushrooms of all kind are an integral past of the monks diet and are never missing from the trapeza of the monasteries of Mount Athos. In fact, during the periods of great fasting, the trapeza alternative have legumes and mushrooms, so that the monks bodies are supplied with the necessary proteins. Here is a monastic recipe for red sauce with mushrooms that is similar to the classic Bolognese except that the meat has been replaced by mushrooms. A wonderful sauce with which you can make pastitsio, moussaka, spaghetti with mince, papoutsakia or even traditional mince pie.
We put the porcini mushrooms in a bowl of warm water and let them soak for an hour.
Meanwhile, we peel the white mushrooms, cut off their stems and cut them into smaller pieces.
We cut the oyster mushrooms into smaller pieces.
We wash, clean and cut the onions, carrots, celery and garlic into small pieces.
We put all the mushrooms and all the vegetable to be ground in a blender little by little so that they get the size of the pieces of normal minced meat. We must to be careful not to mash them completely.
We sauté the mushrooms in a skillet with olive oil, little by little, until they are well dehydrated and set aside.
Then, we pour the rest of the olive oil into a large deep frying pan or a pot and successively sauté the onions, garlic, carrots and celery root.
Then, we add the mushrooms and sauté them together with the rest of the vegetables.
We deglaze with red wine and wait a while for the alcohol to evaporate.
We add the tomato paste, mix well and immediately after that we add the tomato juice.
We season with salt, thyme, oregano, paprika, sugar and bay leaves.
We pour the broth from the porcini mushrooms and, if necessary, we add a little more warm water to cover our minced meat well.
We let the sauce boil for about 20 minutes and adjust the seasoning if necessary.
Just before turning off the sauce, we add the chopped parsley.
Do not skip the porcini mushrooms because they give off a wonderful aroma.
Of course you can use any other mushrooms you have.
Be careful never to wash oyster mushrooms because they absorb water like a sponge and do not dry.
