Having a bad day? This comfort food recipe will help

CONCHIGLIONI (PASTA SHELLS) WITH A MUSHROOM CHIANTI RAGÙ

Serves four:

400 g of mushrooms, cut into small pieces

200 g of oyster mushrooms, cut into small pieces

4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

1 onion, finely chopped

2 talks of celery, finely diced

1 carrot, finely diced

1 red pepper, sliced into rings

70 g of tomato paste

200 ml of Chianti, or a similar red wine

800 g of chopped tomatoes

1 tsp of sugar

4 sprigs of fresh thyme

2 bay leaves

100 ml of water

100 ml of single cream

30 g of Parmesan cheese, plus a little extra to garnish when serving

500 g of conchiglioni pasta, easy to substitute with another pasta, such as a tubular or ribbon pasta

olive oil for frying

pepper, salt

*Vegan: substitute the single cream with soy cream and the Parmesan cheese with nutritional yeast flakes.

1.      Heat a dash of olive oil in a large pan and fry the mushrooms and oyster mushrooms until golden brown. This takes about 5 minutes.

2.      Remove the mushrooms from the pan and set aside. Add a little olive oil to the pan and fry the onion and garlic. Then add the celery, carrot and red pepper to the pan and fry until the carrot has softened.

3.      Then add the tomato paste and allow to brown a little.

4.      Add the mushrooms to the onion mixture, alongside the red wine, chopped tomatoes, sugar, fresh thyme, bay leaves and water. Leave the ragù to simmer gently for at least 30 minutes to allow the sauce to thicken. Add the cream last and leave to heat through for a few minutes.

5.      Once the sauce is (nearly) finished, cook the pasta according to the instructions on the packaging. Drain the pasta.

6.      Divide the pasta between the plates. Top with the ragù and garnish with a little extra Parmesan cheese.