Portion Size – serves two nicely
This is by far my favourite dinner to make for myself and my husband when we need some comforting. I came up with this recipe when I was going to make Chili for dinner. As I started assembling the ingredients, I realized I didn’t have everything I needed to make Chili. So, I just started combining this and that and hoped for the best. Then, I noticed I had some egg noodles, so I served it over those. Voila! Boca Ragu was born, and I have never adjusted the recipe since it’s inception. It’s the one thing my husband says will always be a yes answer when I ask, “Is Boca Ragu ok for dinner?�.
I often just serve big bowls of this on it’s own. But ,it’s also good with a green salad starter and a big hunk of buttered, crusty bread. Add a nice glass of a hearty Red Wine (Chianti Classico, for instance) and you’ve just reached the top where it doesn’t get any better!
Ingredients:
- half package of No Yolks Egg Noodles*
- 1 package Boca Crumbles*
- 1/4 tsp. Garlic Powder
- 1/4 tsp. Onion Powder
- light sprinkling of Vegesal*
- Salt & Pepper, to taste
- dash Cayenne Pepper
- 1/2 tsp. Red Chili Flakes, or to taste
- 1/2 tsp. Dried Oregano
- 1 can Diced Tomatoes, drained
- 1 Tbsp. Tomato Paste
- 1/2 cup water
- 2 Tbsp. Balsamic Vinegar
- 1/2 cup Milk (2% or Whole, but not Skim)
- 1 Tbsp. Unsalted Butter
- handful dried breadcrumbs for garnish (optional)*
Method:
- Bring a large stockpot of water to a boil. In separate pan, saute Boca Crumbles in a splash of Olive Oil with all the spices, salt and pepper. When ingredients are combined and starting to lightly brown, add tomaoes, tomato paste and combine. Add the water and balsamic vinegar and allow to simmer for about 10 minutes, or until reduced down and thickened nicely.
- Drop the noodles into the water, adding a handful of salt first, and cook for 8-10 minutes. Add the milk and butter to the Boca mixture and keep covered until noodles are ready. If it needs to thicken, just simmer uncovered for about 5 minutes while the noodles cook.
- Drain the egg noodles and put into bowls, or onto plates. Top with the Boca mixture evenly and sprinkle the top with the breadcrumbs. Delicious!
**Cook’s Notes**
- No Yolks are yolk-free egg noodles available in the regular pasta aisle of the grocery store. You can use this sauce on ANY noodle and it will taste heavenly! This is just the “original� recipe, so I wanted to keep it’s homey texture in tact. It’s also great with Whole Wheat Spaghetti, or regular Spaghetti.
- Boca Crumbles are a Soy-based meat substitute, which I use very often, sometimes found in the breakfast frozen food aisle or the natural frozen foods section of the grocery store. You could use meat in this dish just as easily. But, I feel it has so much flavour with the Boca, why would you want to use meat? You could also use the Morningstar Crumbles if you can’t find the Boca ones. There’s a lot of options out there to keep it Vegetarian.
- Vegesal is a fine-grain vegetable seasoning salt found in the regular spice aisle near that other seasoning salt. If you can’t find it there, try the natural foods section in the spice area. It adds a lovely “savoury� note to loads of dishes without being gritty or granular.
- I added breadcrumbs to the plate on this to trick my eyes into thinking I had cheese. Little did I know at the time that it’s a common practice in Italy for the same reason. Clever, ay? But, by all means, you could definitely use Parmesan if you were so inclined.
We haven’t had any massive pooling, as we did before, and the plants growing here now are already growing in size. This took roughly two and a half days for a company to come in and do all the heavy Bobcat work, moving the boulders, and hauling in tons (literally) of good soil, peat moss and mulch. This isn’t the whole of the back garden, but it’s the main view. 
There are a lot of things I still have no idea what I’m doing out there. I’m letting the garden tell me what to do. 
