Slow-cooked vegan ragu

Place a casserole dish over a low light and add 2 tablespoons of the olive oil, followed by the vegetables, thyme leaves, season with salt and pepper and slow fry for 25 minutes or till nice and soft but without colouring too much. Giving it a stir occasionally.

Once the veggies are nice and soft, take them from the the dish and place to one side. Now turn the heat to high and add 1 tablespoon of olive oil, add the mushrooms, leave any small ones whole and brake up any bigs ones. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally to make sure it doesn’t stick.

After the 5 minutes remove the mushrooms and add to the veggies. Keeping the heat high and add another 2 tablespoons of olive oil, add the mince, season with salt and pepper and cook till browned all over, around 10 minutes. Stirring occasionally to make sure it doesn’t stick.

Once the mince is done return the mushrooms and veggies back to the dish and give it a good mix. With the heat still on high add the white wine and reduce.

Turn the heat down and add the oregano, paprika and the tomato puree and cook for 2-3 minutes. Now add the tinned tomatoes, the stock and the brown sugar and mix well.

Bring to a boil and then reduce to the lowest light and simmer for 1 hour with a lid, but leave a gap. You want the ragu to reduce to a nice thick sauce. Give it a stir every so often.

Season to taste ans add the freshly chopped herbs and mix.

Serve with your favourite pasta or on top of a jacket potato. Delicious!