I would like to recommend a company that I have bought from for many many years and it has a really deep offering of dried herbs, spice and yes, powdered and granulated vegetables. SF Herb Company (sfherb.com) is able to offer large quantities (half lb to five lb) and even much smaller ones of various dried alliums, leeks, chives, garlic etc plus tomato granules and powders at very low cost. They sell a dried spinach, carrot, celery, onion, tomato mix that is a nice add-in for sopa seca and latin rice dishes. I use it in bean dishes and minestrone very often as a favor base. The advantage is that the salt can be adjusted separately as many of their dried mixes are salt free. SF Herb is very popular with restos and food service but do offer smaller packs at a higher price per ounce.
Your Mushroom Ragu Bianco is really-really excellent! I used homemade veg stock, sub'd leeks for onion and had a tablespoon of cream to use which sub'd for the butter. Served with polenta, cod filets, and asparagus. This will be a repeat recipe for sure! I agree Better Than Bouillon is a good choice when you don't have homemade stock.
I love Better Than Bouillon! I usually get the mega jar at Costco but, it’s only the seasoned veg base. Lately, I’m on the lookout for their mushroom base and the roasted garlic one. Seriously they sound so good!
The mushroom base used to be my favorite! But I haven’t been able to find it in stores for years. :/ I switched to the vegetable base, which I can easily find at the supermarket and is also great! But I just saw that they have a garlic base… 🤯
This was delicious with pasta, though i think for the leftovers I'll slightly undercook the pasta and add the ragu with some pasta water to emulsify things a little. This may be due to the ragu being quite watery since I'm currently working with an ancient, solid element electric stove, which is a pain. I will admit to not using Vegeta despite being in Australia, but I have quite an obsession myself with Massel vegetable stock cubes. They're big on celery flavour, which I love, and I have been known to use them in place of instant noodle seasoning for an ultra-budget snack, back in my student days.
Coming here from your Laksa salad... I had no idea Vegeta was so big in Australia! I grew up in Croatia and Vegeta was a staple.
As a vegetarian I was never really attached to the meat-heavy Croatian cuisine so I don't really miss anything from it now that I live far away, the only thing I miss was Vegeta. It's impossible to find in the north of Ireland, but all supermarkets here stock a very convincing Polish dupe.
Fun fact - I needed a moment to process that Vegeta is advertised as stock powder in Australian market... It's not at all considered a stock powder in Croatia! 😅
It's considered to be a umami spice mixture ("mješavina začina" in Croatian). For stock you'd buy stock cubes, and you'd use Vegeta to season meats, vegetables, soups and stews.
I also read the comments on your weeknight lasagne (sometimes there are good tips) but completely agree that the recommendation to make homemade sauce was dumb. Not the point of this recipe! I do have a question about your mushroom ragu--dried porcini mushrooms always end up chewy and weird when I use them. Am I doing something wrong? Can I sub fresh mushrooms?
I would like to recommend a company that I have bought from for many many years and it has a really deep offering of dried herbs, spice and yes, powdered and granulated vegetables. SF Herb Company (sfherb.com) is able to offer large quantities (half lb to five lb) and even much smaller ones of various dried alliums, leeks, chives, garlic etc plus tomato granules and powders at very low cost. They sell a dried spinach, carrot, celery, onion, tomato mix that is a nice add-in for sopa seca and latin rice dishes. I use it in bean dishes and minestrone very often as a favor base. The advantage is that the salt can be adjusted separately as many of their dried mixes are salt free. SF Herb is very popular with restos and food service but do offer smaller packs at a higher price per ounce.
Your Mushroom Ragu Bianco is really-really excellent! I used homemade veg stock, sub'd leeks for onion and had a tablespoon of cream to use which sub'd for the butter. Served with polenta, cod filets, and asparagus. This will be a repeat recipe for sure! I agree Better Than Bouillon is a good choice when you don't have homemade stock.
So happy you enjoyed it Rosemary! Those subs sound really smart.
I love Better Than Bouillon! I usually get the mega jar at Costco but, it’s only the seasoned veg base. Lately, I’m on the lookout for their mushroom base and the roasted garlic one. Seriously they sound so good!
Ooh I will look out for the mushroom and roasted garlic one. Haven’t seen those yet! Thanks for sharing
The mushroom base used to be my favorite! But I haven’t been able to find it in stores for years. :/ I switched to the vegetable base, which I can easily find at the supermarket and is also great! But I just saw that they have a garlic base… 🤯
I think if you’re in the US, you can shop directly from their site!
Just had this (made with Vegeta!) with polenta and it was really delicious! Thanks Hetty!!
YAY so happy to hear that Theresa. And with Vegeta too. Thanks for letting me know.
This looks excellent!
This was delicious with pasta, though i think for the leftovers I'll slightly undercook the pasta and add the ragu with some pasta water to emulsify things a little. This may be due to the ragu being quite watery since I'm currently working with an ancient, solid element electric stove, which is a pain. I will admit to not using Vegeta despite being in Australia, but I have quite an obsession myself with Massel vegetable stock cubes. They're big on celery flavour, which I love, and I have been known to use them in place of instant noodle seasoning for an ultra-budget snack, back in my student days.
Coming here from your Laksa salad... I had no idea Vegeta was so big in Australia! I grew up in Croatia and Vegeta was a staple.
As a vegetarian I was never really attached to the meat-heavy Croatian cuisine so I don't really miss anything from it now that I live far away, the only thing I miss was Vegeta. It's impossible to find in the north of Ireland, but all supermarkets here stock a very convincing Polish dupe.
Fun fact - I needed a moment to process that Vegeta is advertised as stock powder in Australian market... It's not at all considered a stock powder in Croatia! 😅
It's considered to be a umami spice mixture ("mješavina začina" in Croatian). For stock you'd buy stock cubes, and you'd use Vegeta to season meats, vegetables, soups and stews.
I also read the comments on your weeknight lasagne (sometimes there are good tips) but completely agree that the recommendation to make homemade sauce was dumb. Not the point of this recipe! I do have a question about your mushroom ragu--dried porcini mushrooms always end up chewy and weird when I use them. Am I doing something wrong? Can I sub fresh mushrooms?