Mushroom Lasagna

I'm not a supersticious person, or at least not to a point it prevents from stepping outside. Sure I try to avoid walking under ladders or opening an umbrella inside, I even have clothes or coins I believe are lucky, but that's about it.
But so far this year, I bruised (or maybe even cracked) a bone and I have been knocked out by a quite bad virus. And this is only january... Than it hitted me, we are in 2013! Like 2013...

Good thing that a friend of mine got me a "luck calendar", with good luck advices and quotes. Let's see how it gets me thru the year. Plus to focus on the positiv side, I also have a new favorit toy in my kitchen: the kenwood triblade and it's full accesories pack, I particularly like the little blender that comes with it: handy and easy to clean.

So to get back to something reliable in this crazy hazy days, I picked one of my favorit cookbook up: Bryn's Kitchen. Flicking thru it, the Mushroom Lasagna sounded like something I wanted to try. The results on picture is fairly unimpressiv, it lacks of height. I think making it smaller with one more layer is a good option. Nevertheless this is flavor packed, if you like mushroom obviously, I think it could take a few onions and parsley, but I stuck to the original recipe for this first try.

Mushroom Lasagna (from "Bryn's Kitchen")

Serves 2

for the pasta
10ml Olive Oil
1 Egg
150gr Flour
A pinch of Salt

for the filling
25gr of Butter
500gr of Mushroom (Button or cream)
1 Tablespoon of Thym
Salt, Pepper
100ml of Cream
2gr of Agar-Agar
Parmesan

Make the pasta, using a blender (or by hand, but it will take more time) blitz the ingredients together, until it has a crumbly consistency, than tip it on you worksurface and start bringing it together. Add a bit of water until you have a smooth dough. Wrap it in clingfilm, place it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

Roll out your pasta dough , preferably using a machine. I used the kitchenaid attachement, and rolled it out to size 6 (2 stops from the finest one). Lay the pasta sheet on a clean towel. I've cut the pasta sheet to roughly the size of my dish. Now cook them in boiling salted water for 1 minute and place them immediatly in a bowl with cold water. Once cooled, take them out and leave them on the clean towel, or kitchen towel, to dry.

Preheat the oven to 160°C.

Peel and slice the mushroom. In a large saucepan, on a medium heat, melt the butter and add the mushroom with the thyme, keep stiring every now and then for about 10 minutes, until the water is evaporated. Add salt and pepper.

Take half of the mushroom out, then pour the cream on the remaining mushroom in the saucepan, cook for a couple of minutes. This is the mixture you need to pour into your blender, adding the agar-agar. Mix until you have a smooth purée.

Now combine the mushroom purée with the slices of mushroom you saved, and set aside to start making the lasagna.
Grease the baking dish you are going to use, make a first layer of pasta, and spread half the mushroom filling on top. Place a second layer of pasta, and the second half of the mushroom. Finish with a last layer of pasta, that you wil sprinkle with freshly grated Parmesan.

Place in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes, cut into portions and serve with a green salad.