Turkey Bolognese With Shell Pasta

Anise seed makes turkey taste like Italian sausage, with none of the saturated fat; the red wine and dried mushrooms make this a uniquely delicious dish.

• Prep: 5 min
• Cook: 35 min
• Total: 40 min
• Servings: 4
• Cuisine: Italian
• Difficulty: Medium

Dietary

• Nut-Free
• Soy-Free
• High-Protein

Tags

• sauté
• boil
• quick
• healthy
• comfort food
• savory

Ingredients

• 1.5 cup dry red wine
• 0.5 ounce dried porcini mushrooms
• 1 cup onion (chopped)
• 0.5 cup celery (rinsed, chopped)
• 1 cup carrots (rinsed, thinly sliced or shredded)
• 1 tablespoon garlic (pressed or finely chopped)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 12 ounce ground turkey (99 percent lean)
• 1 teaspoon anise seed
• 0.25 teaspoon salt
• 8 ounce shell pasta (medium)
• 4 tablespoon tomato paste (no-salt-added)
• 0.5 cup parmesan cheese (shredded)

Instructions

1. Optional step: Bring the dry red wine to a boil in a medium saucepan. Break up the dried porcini mushrooms, then stir them into the dry red wine. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 20 minutes.
2. Finely chop the onion, celery, carrots, and garlic. Or you can coarsely chop them, place them in a food processor, and pulse until all vegetables are finely chopped.
3. In a 4-quart saucepan, bring 3 quarts of water to a boil over high heat.
4. While the water is heating up, warm the olive oil in a large nonstick pan over medium-high heat. Crumble in the ground turkey. Sprinkle with anise seed and salt. Cook for 5–10 minutes to brown, stirring occasionally.
5. Meanwhile, when the water comes to a boil, add shell pasta to boiling water. Cook according to package directions for the shortest recommended time, about 10–12 minutes.
6. Add the chopped onion, celery, carrots, and garlic to the cooking ground turkey. Reduce heat to medium. Cook and stir 10 minutes until all vegetables are soft, but not browned. Add tomato paste, and simmer for an additional 5–10 minutes.
7. Optional step: While the shell pasta and ground turkey mixture cooks, strain dried porcini mushrooms, draining unabsorbed dry red wine directly into the ground turkey mixture. Place dried porcini mushrooms on a cutting board and chop finely, or place in food processor and pulse once or twice to more finely chop dried porcini mushrooms. Stir dried porcini mushrooms into ground turkey mixture. Simmer for 10–15 minutes to blend flavors.
8. Drain shell pasta. Add shell pasta to ground turkey mixture (the minimum internal temperature of cooked ground turkey should be 165 °F). Stir to blend well.
9. Divide shell pasta mixture evenly (about 2 cups each) among four dinner plates. Top each with 2 tablespoons of shredded parmesan cheese.

Nutrition (per serving)

• Calories: 463
• Protein: 35 g
• Carbohydrates: 47 g
• Fat: 9 g
• Fiber: 5 g
• Sodium: 465 mg
• Saturated Fat: 3 g
• Sugar: 8.3 g
• Cholesterol: 63 mg