Oma's Spaghetti Dish (Elise's vegan version)

Geoff's grandma always loves to make him spaghetti and Geoff loves to eat it (especially for breakfast!). She very kindly gave me the recipe so that I could cook it in Cambridge for Geoff. Of course, it had to be veganised but here it is.

Oma's Spaghetti Dish (Elise's Vegan Version)

3 tbsp of olive oil

3 tbsp vegan butter

250g spaghetti

4-6 cloves garlic chopped finely

1 medium onion diced

400g tin of crushed tomatoes

12 whole button mushrooms sliced

3-4 gherkins sliced

1 red capsicum

12 sliced pitted black olives

mixed herbs & bolognese herbs

500ml of tomato juice

vegan Parmesan

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Bring a saucepan of water to the boil. Add salt. Add spaghetti and cook until al dente. Drain and set aside in a casserole dish.

Brown the onions and garlic in the olive oil and butter. Pour in the crushed tomatoes, mushrooms, capsicum, herbs, S&P and simmer for a short time. Add the gherkins and olives & stir. Add this sauce to the spaghetti in the casserole dish and mix. Pour in the tomato juice and bake, lidded, in oven for 1/2 hour. Remove and sprinkle with Parmesan and return to the oven, unlidded, until Parmesan turns golden.
  

Notes:

• I can only ever find 1 litre of tomato juice but this is a good thing. The reason it is in this recipe is that the pasta soaks it up while in the oven (I'm sure there are many Nonnas rolling in their graves at the sound of this). I normally pour in half and then check the oven now and then to see if the mix if too dry. If it is I add more juice.
• If you don't have a casserole dish you can put it in a big soup pot and keep it on the stove for half an hour. It's not quite the same but it still tastes good!
• You must put the gherkins in for two reasons: 1. it forces you to buy gherkins which turn out to be tasty snacks, 2. the sourness of the gherkins make everything else taste buttery. Trust me, you need the gherkins.
• As Oma famously says... you never make this recipe the same twice. These are just the ingredients that make it Oma's mix but you can add extra anything.