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Spring mushroom lasagne

Individually layered lasagne that celebrate the bounty of spring – wild mushrooms caramelised in their juices, wilted wild garlic and handmade pasta.
Servings: 4

Ingredients

fresh pasta

  • 200 g plain flour
  • 2 large eggs

garlic mushrooms

  • 500 g St. George's mushrooms (any other mushroom)
  • 1 bulb wet garlic finely chopped, skin included (or 8 cloves regular garlic)
  • 50 g unsalted butter
  • 200 ml drinkable white wine
  • 200 ml double cream
  • sea salt to taste
  • freshly ground black pepper to taste

wilted wild garlic

  • 150 g wild garlic leaves (or fresh spinach at a push)
  • 20 g unsalted butter
  • sea salt to taste
  • freshly ground black pepper to taste

Instructions

for the pasta

  • Either by hand or using a machine, blend the eggs and flour thoroughly. Knead for about 10 minutes. If using a machine, the mixture will most likely look like breadcrumbs at this point. It may look a little dry, but if you can successfully press the crumbs together with your fingers it is sufficiently moist. When you have finished mixing/kneading, press the mixture together if necessary, wrap in clingfilm and rest on the work surface for 30 minutes.
  • When the pasta is ready to roll, remove the plastic and cut into 4 pieces. Shape each piece into a rough rectangle and feed through a pasta machine about 10 times on thickness setting 1, folding the pasta in two each time you run it through - this effectively re-kneads the pasta and greatly improves the texture.
  • Continue running the pasta through the machine, raising the thickness setting a stage at a time until you reach the desired thickness. I stopped when I reached setting 6, which for pasta of this dryish texture was about 1mm thick (see picture in the post). I rolled the pasta for this dish fairly thick so it would survive being removed from the water with tongs (see assembly instructions below) and would hold its shape somewhat when layered with the vegetables.
  • Lay the sheets on a work surface and cut them into neat squares with a sharp knife. I did not need any flour or semolina to roll out or cut my pasta, but if you are at all worried about your pasta sticking, lightly flour it and do not lay sheets on top of each other. Set aside.

for the mushrooms

  • While the pasta dough is resting, slice the mushrooms in halves or quarters, depending on size. You may need to cook the mushrooms in batches as they should be cooked in a single layer. If this is the case, divide the butter accordingly. Heat the butter in a heavy bottomed frying pan over medium-high heat and cook the mushrooms on all sides until lightly browned. If the pan starts to become swamped with water, turn up the heat. Set aside.
  • Turn the heat down to low, add the chopped garlic and cook slowly for about 10 minutes. Add the white wine, deglaze and turn the heat up to medium. Cook for a further 5 minutes, scraping up any flavourful crust, until the wine has mostly evaporated.
  • Return the mushrooms to the pan, stir to coat in the garlic and turn off the heat. You will finish the mushrooms when you are ready to assemble the lasagne.

for the wild garlic

  • Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat and add the wild garlic leaves. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes until just wilted. Turn off the heat - you will finish the wild garlic when you are ready to assemble the lasagne.

to assemble

  • Put a large pan of water on to boil for the pasta sheets. Turn the heat under both the mushrooms and the wild garlic onto low to rewarm them. If using warmed plates, put them in a low oven now.
  • When the water is boiling and the vegetables are almost completely reheated, add the pasta to the pan. Cook for a few minutes - the actual time will depend on the thickness of your pasta. Mine, which was 1mm thick, took about 5 minutes. I decided when it was done by fishing out a piece and cutting off a little to test. While the pasta is cooking, add the cream to the mushrooms, turn the heat up and reduce the sauce. Season both the mushrooms and the wild garlic to taste.
  • When the pasta is ready, remove the plates from the oven. Using tongs, take 4 sheets of pasta out of the water and lay one on each plate. Spoon some of the mushrooms over. Repeat, layering pasta, wild garlic, pasta and mushrooms, saving some of the vegetables to garnish the top of the lasagne. Spoon over any leftover sauce. Serve immediately.