Rich Mushroom, Lentil & Red Wine Ragu

Ingredients

• 1 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes
• 2 celery sticks, finely diced
• 4 garlic cloves, sliced
• 200ml red wine
• 500ml hot vegetable stock
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 150g green lentils, rinsed
• Crusty sourdough bread, to serve
• 600g mixed mushrooms, thickly sliced
• 1 carrot, finely diced
• 2 tbsp tomato puree
• salt and black pepper to taste
• 2 onions, finely diced
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 2 bay leaves
• 40g parmesan, finely grated
• Fresh parsley, to serve

Method

1. Cover the dried porcini with 200ml just-boiled water and leave to steep for at least 15 minutes while you crack on with everything else — that dark, savoury liquor is half the flavour of this ragu.
2. Warm half the oil in a large heavy casserole over a high heat. Fry the chestnut mushrooms in two batches until deeply golden and squeaky, around 6 to 8 minutes per batch. Don't crowd the pan — pile them all in at once and they steam in their own water instead of browning, and you lose the savoury edge that makes this sauce. Season each batch with salt as it goes in. Set aside.
3. Drop the heat to medium, add the remaining oil, and soften the onion, celery and grated carrot with a pinch of salt for 10 minutes, until everything is glossy and sweet and starting to catch at the edges. Stir in the garlic and rosemary and cook for just 30 seconds, until fragrant — don't let the garlic colour past pale gold or it turns the whole pot bitter. Stir in the tomato purée and cook for a minute more so it darkens from red to brick.
4. Pour in the red wine and let it bubble hard for 3 to 4 minutes until almost syrupy and the raw alcohol smell has gone. Lift the porcini out of their soaking liquid, chop finely and add to the pan, then pour in the soaking water too — leave the last gritty spoonful behind in the bowl.
5. Tip in both lots of lentils, the chopped tomatoes, stock, soy sauce and sugar. The stock and wine are doing the heavy lifting here — they break the tinned tomatoes down into something that tastes of fruit rather than tin. Bring up to a gentle simmer.
6. Cook uncovered for 35 to 40 minutes, stirring often so the lentils don't catch on the base, until the lentils are tender and the sauce is thick, dark and glossy enough to hold a spoon-trail across the pan. Top up with a splash of water if it tightens too much.
7. Return the mushrooms to the pan and simmer for a final 5 minutes so everything melds. Taste, season, taste again — it wants plenty of black pepper and likely another good pinch of salt to pull the soy and the tomato together. Adjust now, not at the table.
8. Meanwhile, salt the pasta water generously — it should taste like the sea — and cook the pappardelle to just shy of the packet time. Drag it straight into the ragu with a ladle of starchy pasta water and toss until each ribbon is coated. Plate into warm bowls, scatter over plenty of chopped parsley, drizzle with the extra virgin olive oil, and finish with the parmesan if using.