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Pasta is one of those items you should always have in the pantry.  Instant pasta is so easy to cook and there are so many good quality “fresh” dried pastas in the market, you can really have a good choice between almost every type of pasta from your normal spaghetti right through to lasagne sheets.

There is another use for lasagne sheets other than in lasagne’s.  When I was a young apprentice, I remember how much it surprised me when I was shown another use for lasagne sheets.  The chef cooked a chef’s meal by simply heating a pan really hot, cooking lasagne sheets, ripping it into smaller strips and browning it in a pan until it’s slightly “crispy” then adding all the other ingredients through for flavour such as the shallots, garlic and chilli.  Simple dish, quick and using only the ingredients available in the kitchen.

Cooking doesn’t have to be difficult.  You make it as easy or hard as you want.  The recipes in this blog are a mixture between simple, right through to the adventurous.  This vegetarian recipe is definately on the more simple side of the scale.  In later blogs, I will go through making fresh pasta, a skill that is so useful to have for an aspiring home cook!

Photo by Jun Pang

Rag Pasta with Forrest Mushrooms, Broccolini, Peas, Almonds & Goats Curd

Serves 4

300gr Lasagne Pasta Sheets

100gr Butter

2 Shallots – Peeled and Sliced

4 Cloves garlic – Peeled and Minced

1 Large Red Chilli – Deseeded and finely sliced

60gr Dried Forrest Mushroom Mix – Reconstituted in boiling water, strained

100gr Button Mushrooms – Sliced 1mm thick

100gr Fresh(frozen) Peas

120gr Fresh Broad Beans – Blanched and peeled

2 Bunches of Broccolini

120gr Goats Curd

30gr Almonds – Roughly Chopped

100gr Pecorino Cheese

Extra Virgin olive Oil

Seas Salt

Cracked Black Pepper

Method

1. Put a large pot of water on to boil with about 2 table spoons of salt in it.  Once boiling, place the pasta sheets into the water.  Cook until al dente or with a little “firmness” when you bit into the pasta.
2. In the meantime, heat up a large pan and add a little olive and all the butter on medium high heat.
3. Add the chillies and shallots and cook until the shallots turn slightly clear.
4. Add the garlic and stir through, cooking for a further minute.
5. Add all the mushrooms to the pan and sauté for 2 minutes, continually stirring.
6. Just before you strain the pasta, place the peas, broad beans and broccolini in the same pot as the pasta and cook for about 30 seconds.
7. Strain the pasta, peas, broad beans and broccolini.  Slightly rip the pasta into smaller strips.
8. Once drained, add the pasta and vegetables to the pan.  Toss the pasta through the mushroom mix.  At this point you may want to add cream if you want to be lavish!!  Once mixed through, turn off the heat and season with sea salt and black pepper.
9. Using a fine grater or micro plane, grate the pecorino into the pasta.  Stir the cheese in.
10. Divide the pasta into four equal serves and dollop goats curd on top with a sprinkling of chopped almonds.

Photo by Jun Pang