Spicy Mushroom Lasagne

Ingredients

• 500 g chestnut mushrooms, sliced
• 300 g oyster mushrooms, torn
• 30 g fresh porcini, sliced
• 30 g dried wild mushrooms
• 500 ml vegetable stock
• 1 onion, finely diced
• 1 carrot, finely diced
• 5 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 2 x 400 g tins plum tomatoes
• 2 dried chillies, crumbled
• 3 tbsp tomato purée
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 130 ml double cream
• 60 g pecorino, grated
• 60 g parmesan, grated
• 5 g basil leaves
• 10 g flat-leaf parsley
• 250 g dried lasagne sheets
• Fine salt and black pepper

Method

1. Heat the oven to 230°C fan. Pulse the chestnut, oyster and fresh porcini mushrooms in a food processor in batches until finely chopped; you want a coarse mince, not a paste. Tip into a large bowl with 3 tablespoons of olive oil and a teaspoon of salt, toss through, and spread across a large parchment-lined tray.
2. Roast for 30 minutes, stirring three times, until deeply golden and shrunken to about half their volume. Drop the oven to 200°C fan.
3. While the mushrooms roast, bring the vegetable stock to a simmer. Pour it over the dried wild mushrooms in a heatproof bowl and leave them to soak for 30 minutes.
4. Strain the soaking liquid into a jug, pressing the mushrooms to extract every drop. Top it up with water to 340 ml if needed, then roughly chop the rehydrated mushrooms.
5. Pulse the onion, carrot and garlic in the food processor until finely chopped. Heat the remaining 1 tbsp olive oil in a large sauté pan over a medium-high heat. Add the vegetables and crumbled chillies and cook for 8 minutes, until soft and golden at the edges.
6. Pulse the plum tomatoes to a rough purée. Add them with the tomato purée, 1½ tsp fine salt and ½ tsp black pepper. Cook for 7 minutes, stirring regularly, until the tomato purée darkens and the sauce loses its raw edge.
7. Stir in the roasted mushrooms, rehydrated mushrooms and reserved mushroom stock. Simmer gently for 15 minutes, until the ragù is thick, glossy and clings to the spoon. Taste and add salt or black pepper if needed.
8. In a small bowl, whisk the cream with most of the pecorino and parmesan (hold a small handful back for the top) and stir through the chopped basil.
9. Grease a deep baking dish with olive oil. Spoon a thin layer of ragù across the base, lay down lasagne sheets, then alternate ragù, a drizzle of the cream mixture, and pasta; you're after four layers of pasta, finishing with ragù and the rest of the cream spooned over in pools.
10. Scatter the reserved cheese on top and bake for 25–30 minutes, until the top is bronzed and bubbling at the edges and a knife slides through the pasta with no resistance. Rest for 10 minutes before cutting, then scatter over the parsley.