The ultimate traybake ragù from Ottolenghi Flavour / Flavor (page 101) by Yotam Ottolenghi and Ixta Belfrage and Tara Wigley

Where’s the full recipe - why can I only see the ingredients?

Accompaniments: Saffron tagliatelle

Always check the publication for a full list of ingredients. An Eat Your Books index lists the main ingredients and does not include 'store-cupboard ingredients' (salt, pepper, oil, flour, etc.) - unless called for in significant quantity.

Notes about this recipe

  • Eat Your Books

    Can substitute green lentils for brown lentils, and chicken stock for vegetable stock.

  • alinutzamica on April 01, 2026

    I used 30 g of dried porcini instead of 60g and 1 cube of mushroom stock instead of vegetable/chicken stock. I couldn't find oyster mushroom an instead I used mixed mushrooms which had some oyster mushrooms among other mushrooms, but next time I would probably used just normal mushrooms to keep the cost down. I liked the chewiness of this dish. My husband thought it was made with meat. Also I like it makes a lot and that you don't need to sit by the stove. It was a bit too salty so I would skip adding any extra salt as recommended.

  • ash_2fquo3 on March 21, 2026

    This was an extremely interesting recipe. I didn't have enough or the correct kinds of fresh or dried mushrooms and I used trader Joe's harissa. It still came out with a really nice texture and a lot of depth of flavor. Makes a TON, seems like it will freeze well though.

  • Gilbatron on May 21, 2025

    The best vegan Ragu I have made so far. Very strong flavour, needs a green salad as a side. Cooking times are unreliable, my oven needed about an hour for each step, not 45 minutes. Freezes really well.

  • treay on November 14, 2024

    This is an easy recipe to make, it has a lot of ingredients but the method is very easy. However give yourself extra time just in case. Oven temperatures vary and I needed more time to achieve the consistency needed for the ragù. We loved it, but next time I am going to put less harissa or just omit it altogether. It was a bit too hot for our liking. It was great with the fettucini. I had a lot of leftover sauce and froze it into portions. I have since used it to make Moussaka, Arròs a la Cubana, Cauliflower gratin with ragu and also Baked macaroni with bechamel sauce. Super delicious!

  • anya_sf on March 02, 2024

    Intrigued by the ingredients, I had high hopes for this recipe, but it was a miss for us. Based on others' comments, I used low sodium soy sauce, but otherwise followed the recipe, and did not find it too salty. The lentils needed to cook for 1 hour, covered, to soften. Half the recipe was plenty to sauce 500 g pappardelle pasta. Unfortunately, the sauce seemed too heavy for pasta and the pasta muted the flavor of the ragu. I froze the rest of the sauce and we will try it on something else, possibly with some sausage so my family doesn't complain.

  • Boffcat on February 25, 2024

    I was a bit sceptical over how some of the ingredients would come together - coconut cream in a ragu? - but loved the result. I made a half batch using chestnut mushrooms in place of the oyster; 'standard' rather than rose harissa; and a splash more water in lieu of the red wine, as it wasn't worth opening a bottle for such a small amount. I omitted the dried mushrooms as I didn't have any, and added a bit of nutritional yeast to help make up for it. I also omitted the salt, given the soy and miso already involved. Everything cooked perfectly in the specified time, and quantities were more generous than I'd expected: my half batch comfortably fed four.

  • katmagdunn on November 01, 2023

    Mixed results on this one. I read the comments here and halved both the miso and the soy sauce—this was wise as it felt well seasoned and would have been too salty. But it does taste a little bit of coconut... if you aren't actually vegan, I'd say just finish it off with a little cream. Not everyone minded this but I frankly thought it was weird. I also think if you're a veggie or a vegan, and you think of this as a hearty tomato lentil stew, it's exceptional: rich, umami, and pretty manageable to make in a large quantity with a food processor and an evening at home with the oven on. Don't compare to a ragu (maybe serve as stew or on polenta) make a few suggested tweaks, and you'll be quite happy. But if you do eat meat, and therefore can eat a real ragu, this just doesn't do the trick. It really is close enough that you will compare it, but just doesn't quite get there. As ever, it's an issue of fat and texture.

  • Acacia39 on April 30, 2023

    I absolutely loved this recipe. I made it as described except I used a mushroom powder I already had instead of including dried porcini in the food processed step and used regular harissa instead of rose harissa. It's a lot of ingredients and a long oven time but simple prep with the food processor

  • Sophph on July 27, 2022

    This recipe didn't work for me at all. I found I had to make several modifications to make it edible, primarily adding a lot more liquid and increasing the cooking time. There was a lot of miso in this, which made it very salty, and I don't think this was worth all the expensive ingredients I had to buy for it. I much prefer other, simpler lentil ragu recipes I've tried.

  • anothersarah on February 02, 2022

    So many flavors! Subbed white mushrooms for the oyster and porcini and used more lentils for the barley. I mistakenly used creamed coconut instead of coconut cream which was hard to mix in but still works. A great mimic for a meat sauce - I am not that into meat but this works over pasta (alone or over rice as suggested is too overpowering). Makes TONS - 8-10 portions and I froze half for later.

  • dinnermints on November 07, 2021

    Hmmm...giving this three stars because I found it to be very salty. Next time I'd reduce the soy sauce by at least 1 T and would cut the 1/4 tsp salt added near the end. I did reduce the olive oil by 5 T, so only used 1 T - I couldn't fathom it'd need so much oil when it already had 7 T coconut cream in it. Also, my food processor wasn't able to break the porcini mushrooms into uniform pieces, and I found that some of the larger pieces were a little gritty. If I made this again (and am not sure I would), I'd definitely soak the porcinis first. After reading reviews, I baked it for an hour with foil on and 10min with foil off, which worked pretty well.

  • Ganga108 on July 31, 2021

    This recipe so excited me when I saw it and it didn't disappoint. Including everything but the kitchen sink, it bakes down to a glorious textural ragu. I added bay leaves and Chinese black beans. Could also add juniper berries, black cardamom, etc. V easy to make - veg chopped in the food processor in seconds and the rest is just time to cook. Reminds me of the Pasta e Fagoli recipes on the blog, so meaty in its ingredients cooked till browning, then longer in liquid, with lentils/beans. Served with home made, hand cut pasta. It would make excellent Shepherd's Pie, Pastries with chopped veg, lasagna etc. Most of the remainder was frozen. The leftover ragu tasted better the next day. I can imagine it also in pasties, spread between 2 layers of dough, on pizza, in toasted sandwiches with cheese and tomato. Perhaps made into burgers? A topping for soup.

  • grindabod on April 11, 2021

    This is an amazing recipe. Vegetarian recipes that mimic dishes with meat can be tricky because you'll always compare it to "the original". This meatless pasta sauce can truly trick you into thinking there's some animal protein in there; not that that's even the point: it is beautifully savoury, packed with umami and just satisfying in every way. I think the addition of a little bit of coconut cream is especially genius, it adds a lip-smacking unctuousness that is often lacking in vegetarian pasta sauces, without steering the whole dish into a tropical flavour zone. It's really easy to put together and cooking it in the oven makes it both pretty hands-off and helps develop amazing flavour. My lentils were getting pretty old so they took a bit longer to cook, so make sure to start early enough to allow for some extra time if needed.

  • Astrid5555 on October 20, 2020

    Served over tagliatelle pasta, we adults found it really delicious. The kids did not like it and complained about the aftertaste (miso & coconut). A low involvement recipe if you make it in the food processor. Looking forward to the leftovers, will try with polenta this time.

  • Apollonia on September 27, 2020

    Delicious. My lentils took an extra 15 minutes or so to cook, so it's worth testing them to make sure they're done before you turn off the oven. My only complaint was that it was a bit fatty -- possibly my own issue, as I usually reduce oil and didn't here--- but honestly I think you could cut the oil in half and not lose a thing. I had some qualms about coconut cream, but you couldn't taste the coconut, and I do think it added the sort of unctuousness that this long-time vegetarian associates with memories of short ribs. Definitely let it sit the required time; it made a huge texture difference.

You must Create an Account or Sign In to add a note to this book.

Reviews about this recipe

This recipe does not currently have any reviews.

You are reporting a broken online recipe link to EYB. Please confirm that you want the report submitted. Please also suggest the correct URL for this online recipe to the below textbox.