Put 1 tablespoon Olive oil in a large pan and add 3 Shallots, 3 Garlic clove, 1 Carrot and 6 Mushrooms and gently sweat for 12 minutes.
Add 400 g Canned cherry tomatoes, 100 g Dried red lentils, 1 tablespoon Dried basil, 2 tablespoon Tomato puree, 400 ml Vegetable stock and 2 tablespoon Balsamic vinegar and stir. Simmer for 20 minutes.
Serve on cooked pasta.
Notes
Give the vegetables plenty of time to cook and don't rush this step, as you want them to be nice and soft.
Make this sauce even richer with a glug of red wine.
To keep this vegan, use a vegan Parmesan alternative.
You can make this quicker by using pre-cooked lentils.
You can swap the dried basil or dried oregano.
Use the best quality canned tomatoes you can, as you will taste the difference. Cheaper one will be watery. The same goes for the balsamic vinegar - the better quality one will make a much nicer sauce.
We used a can of cherry tomatoes, however you can use chopped or plum tomatoes.
If you want a smoother sauce, you could blend the vegetables and then add them back to the pan before adding the lentils.
Add some extra flavour by cooking a bay leave with this (remember to take it out before serving).
You can get an even smoother sauce by blending half of everything and then adding it back to the pan.
If the sauce is too thick, then reserve some of the pasta water when draining and add it to the bolognese to thin it out to your desired consistency.
Give the sauce a kick of heat by sprinkling some chilli flakes on top before serving.