Dehydrated Bolognese
This recipe makes 8 - 10 serves. I add extra vegetables to make this a more balanced meal, and omit milk from the classic recipe. However, you could add milk powder after dehydrating if you prefer, to boost the fat and calcium content. This one still remains our favourite hiking meal which we save for those extra hard days as a reward!
Ingredients:
3 onions
a knob of garlic
4 celery stalks
2 red capsicum
Fresh chilli to taste
2 carrots
Bag mushrooms
1 - 1.5 kg mince (beef, kangaroo, chicken, turkey or vegie)
1 large eggplant
2 large zucchini
2 cups red wine
400g tomato paste
Bay leaves
1 chopped tbspn each rosemary, thyme, sage, oregano, and basil.
1 bunch parsley, chopped
1 kg macaroni or any short non-nesting pasta
Plus olive oil and powdered parmesan added after rehydrating on the track.
Recipe Hacks:
Brown meat and add bolognese jar sauce from supermarket and mix well, dehydrate then add commercial mixed dried vegetables and instant pasta. Or use TVP, or dehydrated TVP. Or use commercial powdered bolognese sachet.
Method:
Finely dice all vegetables.
Fry first 6 ingredients in a very large pot in scant olive oil until beginning to caramelise. Remove. Repeat with mushrooms. Remove.
Repeat with eggplant and zucchini. Remove.
Repeat with mince, breaking up thoroughly with a spoon. If freezing or using within a few months of dehydrating, continue to next step. If planning to store at room temperature for up to a year, rinse meat in hot water and drain before next step.
When well browned, add tomato paste to meat. Cook for a few minutes. Add red wine, and return all vegetables to pot. Add hard herbs and a splash of water if it looks too dry. Season well.
Simmer gently uncovered until thick and any oil begins to separate (there shouldn’t be much, but blot this from the surface with a paper towel). Stir in parsley and basil.
If the sauce remains a bit runny, place in a colander and drain the liquid. Cook the liquid until a little thicker then dry separately on a silicone sheet. Once dry, powder it and add back into the other ingredients
Meanwhile par cook pasta (in beef or chicken stock is nice). Mix pasta and sauce together. Adjust seasoning. We use high protein pasta for this meal for each nutritional value.
Record weight by measuring out a single or double serve on a marked tray, spread remaining mix onto more trays, dehydrate, reweigh, add in powdered sauce component, and package portions.
If you make 8 meals from the above recipe using 1.5 kg of mince and high protein pasta, then the meals should each contain around 4050 kJ of energy and 95g of protein.
We also add 10ml of olive oil after rehydrating (for two serves), as well as powdered parmesan cheese on top for an extra delicious meal.