Sue's Recipes and Other Stories

Spicy Pork and Porcini Lasagne (4)

Ingredients

30g dried wild mushrooms
20g dried porcini mushrooms
2 dried red chilliesdeseeded if you don’t like too much heat, not the extra-hot small ones
500ml warm chicken stock
80ml olive oilplus a little extra to grease
1 onionpeeled and finely diced
3 garlic clovespeeled and crushed
1 carrotscrubbed clean and finely diced
2 tomatoesfinely diced
200g shimeji mushroomsfinely chopped, or any other fresh
salt and black pepper
600g minced pork
3½tbsp tomato paste
120ml double cream
10g basil leavesroughly chopped
350g fresh lasagne sheets
40g pecorino romanofinely grated
40g parmesanfinely grated

Instructions

Put the dried mushrooms and chillies in a bowl, pour on the stock and leave to soak for 30 minutes (and up to two hours). Strain the liquid into a second bowl, then finely chop the mushrooms and chillies.
Heat the oven to 200C/390F/gas mark 6 and grease a round 27cm-wide x 5cm-high ovenproof dish. On a medium-high flame, heat 60ml oil in a large, heavy-based pan for which you have a lid.
When hot, fry the onion, garlic and carrot for five minutes, stirring occasionally, until soft and golden. Add the tomatoes, shimeji, and two and a half teaspoons each of salt and pepper, and fry for five minutes, stirring occasionally, until the mushrooms are cooked.
Stir in the pork, then, resisting the urge to stir more, leave it to fry for six minutes. Stir together, then leave to fry again, undisturbed, for five minutes: you want the meat to be slightly crisp and browned on the bottom.
Stir in the chopped soaked mushrooms and chillies, tomato paste, stock and 850ml water, simmer for four to five minutes, then turn down the heat to low.
Cover the pan and leave to simmer gently for 25 minutes, stirring a few times to make sure the sauce doesn’t catch. Remove the lid and simmer for 20 minutes more, stirring occasionally, until the sauce reduces and thickens, then turn off the heat and stir in the cream and basil.
To assemble the lasagne, spread a quarter of the sauce over the base of the greased dish, then top with a layer of lasagne. Spread another layer of sauce on top, then scatter over a third of the cheese.
Repeat these layers twice more, finishing with a scattering of cheese, and drizzle over the remaining 20ml oil. Cover the dish tightly with foil, bake for 30 minutes, then remove the foil and bake for 20 minutes more, until brown and crisp on top. Set aside for five minutes before serving.

Related